Pokémorphs 1: The Invasion
by shaunathan
Summary: Five kids walking home one night encounter a being from out of this world. Now, armed with the power to change into any Pokémon they can touch, they must fight against the greatest threat mankind has ever faced.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

My name is Red. I can't give you my last name. It's too dangerous. If they find me... if they find any of us... it would mean the end of everything we know and love. Everything _you_ know and love. Everything anyone on earth knows and loves.

I'm writing this down because someone has to know. Someone besides the five of us, that is. Maybe if we get the word out... maybe someone will be able to help–to take over the fight if we ever die, or worse, get captured.

I suppose the best place to start is the beginning. How long ago was that? It feels like years. In reality, though, it's only been a few days. It's insane how much can change in so little time. Back then... back before everything turned on its head and life as we knew it ended... back before the concept of living a single moment without fear became an impossibility... back then, we were normal kids, living with normal kid concerns, like how were doing in school, or if we looked cool.

Normal. Interesting, just how fragile that concept can be.

On that fateful day, or, I suppose I should say night, given that the sky was already dark, I was at the arcade in the local mall. For the same reason I can't tell you my last name, or where I live, or what school I go to, or anything that could help them trace us, I can't tell you anything specific about the mall. It was a mall, like any other mall. It had an arcade. It had stores. It had a food court. I trust you can fill in the rest of the details to get a mental image.

I'd met up with another kid, Silver, earlier that day, and we'd decided to hang out. We were friends at the time. Not best friends, but good friends nonetheless. If I had to pick my closest friend at the time, it might have been him. It also might not have. Either way, that doesn't really matter now. If he wasn't my best friend then, he is now. I suppose it has to do with trust. Trust... it used to be so easy back then. Now...

I'm getting ahead of myself again. Suffice it to say, Silver and I ended up hanging out the arcade that night, playing games and talking and laughing at jokes like any other normal kids. Though he was three years younger than me, Silver was very mature–far more so than other kids his age. When I talked with him, it was like talking to someone at least as old as me, if not older. Sure, someone older than me who constantly made dumb jokes, and was forever on the wrong side of the Zubat-Man VS Spinarak-Man argument, but older nonetheless. And boy could the guy play video games. It was like he had trained his whole life for the things. The only reason he couldn't stay there playing all night, besides his mom's set curfew, was because we decided to use our limited number of quarters on a two player game, which I promptly caused us to lose within ten minutes each time we played.

So, once we'd used up all our gaming funds, and after Silver had drilled into my head roughly nineteen times that the next time we played, I needed to remember that there would be an ambushing wave of enemies from the right and that I had be ready to stop it, we headed out of the arcade and toward the mall exit.

On the way out, we ran into Green, or, rather, he seemingly deliberately walked into our path. I was half suspicious that he'd been watching us from the moment we left the arcade. I didn't know Green all too well. I'd seen him every now and then in the halls at school, and noticed how his clothes didn't ever fit right and he never seemed to brush his long, spiky hair. Either he didn't care, or he didn't have the means to fix it. I was vaguely aware that he didn't have a very good home life–that his parents were out of the picture, that his grandfather had died a few months ago, that his uncle didn't really care–but I'd never really sat down with him to talk about the details. I'd helped him out a few weeks ago by getting his backpack from some other kids who'd stolen it. I guess he'd decided that made us friends, because he approached us with a grin.

"Hey guys," he said. "What's up?"

Silver shrugged. "Not a lot. We just lost our last few quarters at the arcade because _someone_..." he stressed the word while jabbing his thumb in my direction so that there was no ambiguity. "...has the memory of a blind and deaf Feebas, so we're headed home."

Green nodded. "Oh, okay." He paused, debating if he wanted to say something more. Eventually, he decided that he did. "Uh... my uncle's house is near your guys'. Do you mind if I tag along?"

I raised an eyebrow at Silver and he shrugged. I supposed it couldn't hurt. After all, we knew the guy, and it wasn't like something insane was going to happen that would change our lives forever on that walk home. Right. "Sure," I said. "Why not?"

Immediately Green's face lit up. "Cool! Let's go!"

We got a bit further toward the exit when we ran into two other people we knew, Blue and Yellow.

I'd known both of them for a while. Blue was in most of my classes, and Yellow was her best friend despite being two years younger, so I talked with both of them sometimes.

I'd be amiss if I said that Blue wasn't very attractive. She's tall, athletic, has a pretty face, and wields the fashion sense of a supermodel, or so I've been told (I have no experience in the field myself, so personally I can't tell). She has long, brown hair and sea blue eyes that other guys can't stop staring at. Most guys our age would kill for just one date with her. I don't think of her in that way, though, mostly because we've known each other for so long, and because she doesn't seem like the type to take kindly to guys flirting with her.

Yellow is Blue's opposite in nearly everything, making it a touch ironic that they've been best friends for so long. She's short, more so than most kids her age, and doesn't have the same sort of physical presence as Blue, seeming almost frail in comparison, especially when comparing Blue's easy confidence to her shyness. But there's a strength to her that I can't exactly explain. It's a sort of... sense of grounding, I suppose. Like she knows herself and has a firm anchor on things. She doesn't have Blue's sense of fashion, I've been told. On numerous occasions Blue has told her that she dresses like a guy, and that if she just grew her hair out (she keeps it short, never longer than just below her ears, and fairly messy, claiming that she doesn't have time to brush it or maintain anything longer) and took her fashion advice she'd look good. I don't see Blue's point. I think Yellow is pretty, and I think her haircut is cute.

They were heading toward the exit as well, apparently having come from a clothing shop where Blue had once again tried to coerce Yellow into buying a dress.

"You have to own at least one," she insisted as they approached us. "Every girl has to own at least one dress."

Yellow glanced down at her hoodie, which was old and slightly too large and had mud and grass stains near the cuffs from yard work. She shrugged. "Why?"

Blue mouthed the word silently, incredulously, but then had to stop arguing to talk with us. "Oh, hi boys." She shot Yellow a look that clearly said, 'We'll finish this discussion later,' and then gave us a dazzling, pearly white smile.

"Hey," I said. I heard Silver mutter something like, "Hello, my goddess." I ignored him and smiled at Yellow, who grinned back. "You headed home too?"

Blue nodded. "Yep. It's getting pretty late. We were actually thinking about cutting through that old abandoned construction site to shave some time."

I raised an eyebrow. I knew what construction site she was talking about. My parents had explicitly forbidden me from going through there for any reason. I was pretty sure most reasonable parents had forbidden their kids from going through there for any reason. I knew for certain that Blue's mom had–she'd told me as much a few days earlier. It couldn't be that dangerous, though, could it? It was probably just adults being paranoid, as usual. Still, I couldn't just say nothing to the suggestion. "That could be pretty dangerous, especially this late," I warned. "We should probably come with you, just in case."

Blue narrowed her eyes. I'd obviously struck a nerve that I definitely hadn't planned on hitting. "Oh, and I suppose you think we can't handle anything on our own. You think we need you to come with us because you're some big strong maaaan–"

"Actually," Yellow interrupted. "I know you're not afraid, Blue, but I am. I've heard some scary stuff about that construction site, and I'd be less afraid if they came with us."

And that dissolved the tension. That was all it took. Yellow has a way of resolving arguments like that. She seems to always know what to say to defuse the situation.

So the five of us, five normal, average kids, with normal, average concerns, and normal, average lives left the mall and headed towards the old abandoned construction site.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The site had once been the place where a company hoped to build a new headquarters. However, the project had long since been deserted due to unfavorable soil, which would cause the construction and maintenance costs to exceed the predicted profits. The place now consisted of a large area, surrounded by caution tape and wooden fencing. Within the roughly square perimeter, half-destroyed concrete walls and rusted steel beams that twisted and bent in the air. Here and there wooden boards littered the ground, evidence of temporary scaffolding for a planned second floor. In isolated areas, abandoned earthmovers sat silent, tilted at odd angles in ditches or halfway buried in dirt, too expensive to extract, left to rust and corrode.

The site was as scary as the stories Yellow, as well as the rest of us, had heard about it. It was the perfect place for a serial killer or a child kidnapper to camp out, waiting for his next unsuspecting victims. I half expected someone, or something, to spring out of every discarded bit of concrete piping we passed. Our whole group shared the same sort of fear. Yellow was practically shaking, and even Silver couldn't muster up some sort of construction site themed joke.

However, that night, serial killers and child kidnappers were the least of our problems. Honestly, an encounter with some crazed axe murderer might have been preferable to what actually happened. As it turned out, the scariest thing that happened that night didn't come from around us from above, because as we reached the middle of the site, a clearing, I heard Green say, "Look!"

The rest of us whirled to stare at him, convinced that he'd seen some sort of threat around us. But instead, his gaze was fixed on the night sky, and his arm was raised to point at something. A goofy grin stretched across his face, somewhere in between disbelief and amazement.

"Uh huh, it's the stars," Silver said, slowly, like he was dealing with a very small child, or someone in an insane asylum. "They're very pretty. Can we keep moving now?"

"No, just look," Green insisted. I followed his eyes and finger, and eventually settled on the area I thought he was looking at. Unfortunately, I couldn't see whatever he was so fascinated about. Had he seen a constellation or something?

"Yeah, those are the stars," Silver repeated, an edge to his voice. "Is there a specific reason we're looking at the stars? Because really, _they're just stars_."

"Uh," Yellow spoke up. She and Blue were looking in the same area of night sky we were. "Maybe so, but I don't think stars aren't supposed to move like that." She paused. "Or start getting bigger."

Squinting a little, I reexamined the night sky, and realized she was right. There _was_ one pinprick of light that was moving around far more than even a shooting star could, and unlike all the other lights surrounding it, it seemed to be slowly growing in size, almost like it was coming closer.

"Uh..." Blue said, for once at a loss for words. "This... uh... this has to be some sort of astronomical phenomenon. Did anyone bring a camera?"

Nobody answered. I hadn't brought a camera, and I didn't figure anyone else had either. After all, who brought a camera to the mall?

We were all silent for a few moments as the 'star' continued to move around and grow larger. When it had reached the point where it looked about the size of a marble, far bigger than anything else in the sky, save for the moon, Blue voiced my suspicions. "That thing isn't getting bigger, it's coming closer."

"Yeah, right," Silver said, though the awe and fear in his voice didn't match the scoffing words.

"No, no, she's right. It's coming closer," Green chimed in. He was still standing there, frozen and transfixed, his arm still held up in the air, pointing at the moving light. He didn't seem scared like the rest of us. That was just the way he was, I guess. Unfrightened by strange things. "It's gonna land!"

"Uh," I spoke up. "Should we... should we run?"

"Oh come on, do you really think that thing is going to land right on top of us?" Silver asked, trying and failing to sound sarcastic.

Blue cast a look down at the ground in front of us, and then back up at the light, now larger than a basketball in the field of our vision. She repeated this one more time, then said, "Yeah, it is."

"You're delusional," Silver scoffed.

"No, really, it is."

I didn't doubt Blue. If the light wasn't descending straight down to where we stood, it wouldn't be growing at such a steady rate, maybe even not at all. But it was. That light, whatever it was, was going to land right in front of us.

"Do you think it's dangerous?" Yellow wondered. "Do you think it'll hurt us?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "It hasn't done anything yet, so I don't think so."

"I'm not sticking around for an 'I don't think so,' man," Silver said, his voice taking on even more fear. "I'm getting the heck out of here." And yet he didn't move. None of us did. It was as though our feet were rooted to the spot.

When the object reached the size of a small car, I gradually began to discern its features, striking white against the dark backdrop of the night sky. It was a spacecraft of some sort. The main body was shaped like a rough oval, with a bit in front sticking out. I guessed that was the cockpit. On each side, two symmetrical wing-like protrusions ended in somewhat cylindrical tubes, glowing a bright blue at one end. Those had to be engines. But what was really striking about the craft was the tail–or, I should say, the protrusion that resembled a tail. It swept up from what I assumed was the back end of the craft like a metallic scorpion's tail, ending in a deadly blue spike that pointed the same direction as the cockpit. Just by looking at it I knew that it was the ship's main weapon. It wasn't pointing at us currently. I hoped that didn't change.

"Is anybody else peeing their pants right now?" Silver asked, feebly attempting a joke. His eyes remained fixed to the spaceship.

"No," Blue answered. Then, grimacing, "Ew. Please tell me you're not."

"Nah, just asking. See, if someone else was doing it, it'd mean I could."

"Please don't," Yellow advised.

"Yeah, if it's not going to kill us, I don't want aliens' first impression of humans to be you with pee down your leg," I added.

"It's almost here," Green said, completely disconnected from the discussion, his voice filled with wonder. "It's beautiful!"

Silver laughed nervously. "Okay, while Green keeps goggling over this thing, can we leave? That spiky thing on the back is making me reeeeaaally nervous."

"No, if we leave, it might shoot at us," Blue objected. She looked determined. Not exactly calm–that wasn't the right word for it. More... stoic. Defiant, almost. Her jaw was locked in a position that made it look like she was ready for a fight, and she stood in a pose that sat somewhere in between nonchalant and aggressive, managing an uneasy balance between the two. Her eyes shone with fright, but not cowardice. She was afraid, but she wasn't going to run. I had a brief flash of her grabbing a plank of wood and smacking whatever came out of the ship upside the head... if it had a head to smack. I only hoped she had the sense not to do something like that unless absolutely necessary.

The craft cleared the final few meters that stood between it and the ground in front of us, and it touched down gently on elegant rudders I hadn't noticed before, landing so smoothly that it didn't shift a single speck of dirt out of place. I noticed a jagged black blast mark across the side of the cockpit I hadn't seen before, like ugly scar across someone's face. It dawned on me that the spacecraft was damaged.

"Should we say something?" Silver hissed, his voice barely above a whisper.

"I don't know," Yellow murmured. "Do they even speak English?"

Green decided for them, speaking in a loud, placating voice. "Hello. We won't hurt you. Can you come out?"

The craft remained silent.

"Did they hear that?" I wondered in a whisper.

"Maybe they speak French or something," Blue hypothesized. "I know a little. Maybe I could give it a shot."

"We mean you no harm," Green tried again. "Please come out. We won't hurt you."

«I know.»

The voice–or, I shouldn't say voice, since it wasn't actually audible–simply appeared in my head. It was like listening to myself think, but in a voice I didn't know, and having thoughts I wasn't thinking.

"Uh... did you guys hear that too?" Silver asked, his fear replaced almost wholly by confusion. "Or am I going freaking crazy?"

"No, I heard it too," Yellow confirmed. She didn't seem as weirded out by the voice-in-head thing as Silver was, but she still looked appropriately concerned that she was hearing thoughts that weren't her own.

"This is too weird," Blue put in. "I could swear I just heard something talk in my head, but that doesn't happen. That doesn't happen, right?"

Nobody answered, too preoccupied by the developing situation.

"Can you come out?" Green said, his voice still ridiculously calm. I would have been completely freaking out had I not wanted to freak out everyone else.

«Yes. Please do not be frightened.»

"We won't," Green reassured the strange mind voice.

" _You_ won't," Silver muttered. "Call me skeptical until further notice."

A door began to open in the side of the spacecraft, sliding downwards from an arched top. As it opened, I realized that the ship's exterior, though it had appeared bright to our eyes when they were to the dark, was not as bright as the interior. The light spilling from the opening door easily outshone the white exterior.

The opening grew larger, finally ending at the bottom in a flat angle.

And then he appeared.

The first thing I thought of, looking at him, was the ancient myths of centaurs–those creatures like Rapidash without flames, and with a human body, torso up, instead of the Pokemon's neck. The alien, because that's the only thing it could be, had a normal human head, shoulders, arms, torso, etcetera, all where they should be, except from the waist down it was equine, with a body like a Sawsbuck's, hooves and all, but the whole thing was pale blue–skin, fur, everything.

When he ducked out of the doorway, I registered more details about his face. Instead of a mouth and nose like a human, he had three vertical slits that I guessed he was able to use for breathing. His eyes were normal enough, though they were striking green–his normal eyes, that is. What was more shocking was his other two eyes. They stuck up from the top of his head on two stalks that twisted and moved about, allowing him to point the eyes wherever he wanted.

I was already reaching peak weird when I saw his tail. That just about pushed me over the edge. The appendage was long and muscular, and ended in a curved blade like a scythe. It glinted as though it was made of steel. I got the feeling that if that thing stabbed or slashed at something, whatever it was wouldn't be in one piece any longer. The alien was almost cute, in a strange sense, all except for the deadly tail. With that thing, he could kill me if he wanted to. I really hoped he didn't.

«Hello,» he said in our heads.

We all said something along the lines of "Hi."

The alien took a step forward, as though to descend from the open door to the ground, but then he unexpectedly staggered. His equine knees buckled and he collapsed to the dirt. Green took a step forward and tried to prop him back up into a standing position, but he proved too heavy.

"Oh!" Blue gasped, her expression concerned. "Look, he's injured!"

She was right. I spotted a burn mark on the side of the creature's body, similar to the one on his spaceship.

«Yes. I am dying,» the alien confirmed, his thought voice as calm as before, despite his physical pain.

"Can we help?" Green asked, inspecting the wound.

"Yeah, we can run and get help, or..." Yellow looked at a loss for a good course of action. She's good with medical stuff, but she usually has a first aid kit on hand. "We don't exactly have bandages, but we can find something to patch it up."

«No. I am going to die. The wound is fatal.»

"But you can't die," I protested. I knew I sounded like a little kid, not able to come to terms with reality, but I couldn't bear to let myself think the alien would actually die. It hurt me, for some reason, to imagine it. "You're the first alien to come to Earth!"

«No, not the first,» he corrected. «There have been many others. Very many.»

"Other aliens?" Silver asked suspiciously. "Like you?"

The alien shook his head, a surprisingly human gesture for an extraterrestrial. «No, not like me.»

Then he let out a groan in his thought voice, a chilling sound that rattled me to the core of my bones. Listening to it was like experiencing a miniature death.

«Not like me,» he repeated, once he had recovered his 'voice.' «They are different.»

"How?" I asked. "What makes them different?"

Then he spoke those fateful words, the words that have stuck in my mind since that night and never let go with a grip as strong as death itself.

«They have come to destroy you.»


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Nobody said a word. Nobody _had_ to say a word. Unlike any other statement that anyone has made throughout the entirety of history, we somehow knew he was telling the complete truth. He meant exactly what he said. There were dangerous aliens out there, and he was trying to warn us with his dying breaths.

«They are called Yeerks,» he explained. «They are different from my people. Different from your people as well.»

"And they're already here?" Blue demanded, taking on Silver's skeptical expression.

«Yes, many. Hundreds. Maybe thousands by now.»

"So why hasn't anyone said anything?" Silver asked. "I mean, someone has to have seen one by now. I haven't heard anything about this."

«You would not have. Yeerks... they do not have bodies like yours or mine. They live inside the bodies of other beings. They are... It is easier to show you.»

He closed his eyes, concentrating, and suddenly an image appeared in my mind. I saw a grayish greenish slug-like thing, around the size of a Rattata, that almost resembled a Goomy in shape, but without eyes and far less cute. It was the sort of thing that if I'd seen squirming around on the sidewalk I'd have given a wide berth, or perhaps stepped on in disgust.

"Gross," Silver looked sickened. "I guess that's a Yeerk? Either that or leftovers from the sushi food truck downtown."

«Yeerks are nearly powerless without a host,» the alien continued. «They are–»

He groaned again, this time more intensely. I saw Yellow visibly flinch at the 'noise.' I felt the alien's pain and sorrow at his imminent death. The sound ripped through me like a cruel knife.

«They are parasites,» the alien went on as though nothing had happened, but his voice had become yet further strained. «They require a host to live in for things like sight, hearing, and physical capabilities. We call these hosts Controllers. The Yeerks enter the brain through the ear, and then enter the brain, stretching themselves until they override every neuron, control every action. They attempt to gain voluntary hosts, to make things easier, since an involuntary host may be able to resist, if only slightly.»

"So you're telling me these things are here on Earth and are taking over humans?" Blue asked, her voice a mix of fear and confusion.

"This is way bigger than us," I realized. "If what you're saying is true, you shouldn't be telling five teenagers about it. This is the kind of thing that world governments need to know about."

The alien didn't respond to my concerns, instead continuing with his explanation. I suppose I understood. If he didn't get all this information out before he died, Earth was toast. «We hoped to stop them, but their Bug fighters were waiting in massive numbers in orbit, ready to ambush us when our Dome ship came out of Z-space. We had thought we were ready to fight them–Bug fighters alone would be powerless against the weaponry of a Dome ship, but the Yeerks had prepared a second ambush. They hid a Blade ship, one of their most deadly spacecraft, in the crater of your moon. We fought, but we lost. They have tracked my fighter's energy signature. They will find me here shortly, and eliminate all traces of myself and my ship.»

"What? How is that possible?" Green asked.

The alien smiled, or at least his eyes crinkled in the way a human's do when we smile. «Their Dracon beams are able to disintegrate anything down to atoms. Nothing will remain of my ship or my body. I sent a message to my home world, however, before I was shot down. My people, the Andalites, fight the Yeerks wherever they go. They will send forces to this planet to engage the Yeerks, but it may take a year, or even more. By then, the Yeerks will have almost total control over the entire planet. All will be lost, unless you are able to warn your people!» He let out another spasm of pain. He was nearly dead.

"Uh... a bit of a problem, there, mister Andalite, sir," Silver spoke up, looking defeated. "See, there have been a lot of humans trying to convince everybody various aliens exist for a very long time. Nobody believes them. Definitely not anybody who would need to know about this."

"If we tell anyone, we'll look completely insane. Nobody will listen, and if they do, they're probably Controllers and we're as good as dead," Blue added.

"It's game over, either way," Yellow murmured, despondent.

"There has to be some way to help you," Green insisted, sounding almost agitated that the Andalite was dying. "We can keep you alive somehow. If we can just show you to the police, or–"

«No,» the alien interrupted. «There is no way. No time.» But then his eyes brightened, as though he'd had a clever idea. «But maybe...»

"What is it?" I asked.

«I need one of you to enter my ship. Inside, on a table, you will find a small blue cube. Bring it to me, and quickly! The Yeerks are coming!»

We all glanced at each other, unsure of who would be the one to go into the spacecraft. We seemed to agree unanimously that it had to be me. Or, I should say, the other four agreed, because I certainly didn't.

"Go on," Green said from where he still knelt next to the alien. "I'll stay with him." He put his hand on the Andalite's shoulder, and his touch seemed to strangely comfort the alien.

I would have gulped, but my throat was too dry to even manage that. I glanced at Yellow.

She smiled at me, seeming confident that I was brave enough to do it. I definitely wasn't. I wouldn't have, if someone else had stepped up and volunteered. But nobody did, and Yellow's smile gave me a daring I wouldn't have had without it. I walked over to the spaceship and stepped up into the open door.

Inside, I saw the passageway that led into the cockpit. I saw the control panel, sparse in comparison the pictures I'd seen of human fighter jets. There were only a few buttons, and they all glowed a warning red, like emergency overrides. Perhaps Andalites just needed less buttons. Maybe it was thought-controlled.

I located the cube pretty easily. It was one of the few splashes of color in the ship, save for the glowing buttons and a picture next to it on the table. Looking at the photograph, I realized it was actually a small holographic projection of four Andalites, standing side by side, looking solemn. One of them looked vaguely like the Andalite outside the ship. Two others were larger–definitely adults. I realized this was the Andalite's family.

A wave of sadness hit me, this time my own, not the alien's. Somewhere, far away, a mother and father waited day after day for their child to return. But he wouldn't, because he was here, dying. Dying to protect Earth. And it was all the Yeerks' fault. Anger blazed in my heart. One way or another, I was going to make those parasites hurt for what they'd done.

I exited the ship and handed the cube to the Andalite. "Here."

«Thank you.»

"I saw a picture. Was that... your family?"

«Yes.»

"I'm really sorry," I said, feeling dumb for not being able to come up with something more poetic, more expressive of my sympathy.

«There is something I can do that may give you a chance to resist the Yeerks.»

"What?" Blue demanded, immediately interested.

«You are young. I know enough about humans to know that your youth lack real power to fight the Controllers. But I may be able to give you some small powers that will help.»

We were all silent, waiting for him to continue. I exchanged a confused glance with Silver, Blue, and Yellow. Not Green. Green's eyes were fixed on the alien.

«I can give you powers no human has ever had before.»

"Yeah, but what?" Silver asked.

«It is technology Andalites have developed–technology that the Yeerks do not have,» the Andalite explained. «We are able to use this ability to pass unnoticed in many parts of the universe. It is the power to morph. We have never shared this technology. But your need is great.»

"Morph? Morph how? Morph what?" Blue looked suspicious, her eyes narrowed.

«To alter the shape of your bodies,» the Andalite said. «To change in to any species you can touch.»

Silver laughed, still skeptical. "Become other species. Right."

«All you must to do use this power is touch a creature, to acquire its DNA, and then you can become that creature. It takes intense concentration, but if you are determined, you will be able. There are... limitations that our scientists have not figured out how to circumvent. There are dangers to this power. But I cannot explain semantics. There is no time. You will have to learn them yourselves. I must ask: do you wish to receive this power?»

"This is nuts," Silver complained, looking at me as if we were the only sane ones in a mental asylum. "He can't be real with this, right?"

"No," Green murmured. "No, he's not kidding."

"This is nuts!" Silver repeated, this time with more emphasis. "Aliens? Brain-stealing slugs from outer space? Spaceships? No freaking way!"

"Yeah, it's weird," I agreed.

"Uh huh, it's really out there," Blue said, measuring her words. "But we can't all be dreaming the same dream, I don't think. This has to be real. We have to do something about it."

"I will," Yellow said quietly. "I'll do it." I was almost taken aback. Yellow wasn't usually the first person to decide something this big. Perhaps she realized how important this was–enough so to break her usual character.

"We should decide as a group," I suggested. "All in or all out."

"Uh, not to sound off-topic," Blue began, looking up at the sky at a pair of small, bright red lights. "But what are those?"

«Yeerks,» the Andalite snarled in our minds, and his hatred shook me to my core.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

«Yeerks!» he shouted again as the lights slowed and turned back around, coming toward us. «There is no more time! You have to decide now!»

"We have to," Green said. "We don't have any other way to fight."

"Does anybody else realize how crazy this is?!" Silver demanded. "Because it is!"

"Time's up," Blue announced. "It's do or die, and I'd really rather not die. I'm in."

I sucked in air through my teeth and looked at my friends. Silver looked panicked. He was the most hung up on the insanity of the whole thing, but I knew if the rest of us decided to accept the power, he would too. Blue's face was dead set in the same confident expression she always had when approached with something important. She was ready for the power. Yellow's expression was similar, though more gentle, more fearful. But her resolution was just as rigid as Blue's. She was in.

Then I looked at Green, and I saw something I'd never seen in him before: purpose. It's weird how when looking at someone, you don't immediately register if they have a goal–something to live for, to fight for. But when that something changes–when someone with it loses it, or someone without it gains it–it suddenly appears clear as day just how much that purpose defines someone. At that moment, Green had clearer definition than he'd ever had before.

"We have to," he insisted, staring me dead in the eye.

"You're right," I agreed, nodding slowly. "It's the only option."

«Then each of you, put your hand on a side of the cube.»

The five of us placed a hand on one of the sides of the blue box, and the Andalite held it, palm up, on the sixth.

«Do not be afraid,» he said.

A tingle passed through my nervous system, starting in my hand and ending in my brain. It was like I'd brushed my hand against the wall socket, but it didn't hurt. In fact, it almost felt good.

«It is done,» the Andalite announced. Then, his thought-voice became deadly serious. «Remember this above all else: never remain in the form of a creature for over two of your hours. I have seen the consequences myself. No longer than two hours, or you will be trapped forever!»

"In another creature's body," I said slowly. "Two hours, and we're not human any more."

«Correct. Now you must go! They are here!» Then a shudder passed through his body and mind, and I knew he was truly afraid. His eyes, all four of them, fixed on the Bug fighters... or something in between them, it seemed. « _He_ is here.» The alien's voice filled with hatred and dread. «Run! Run now! Visser Three is here!»

"Visser what?" Blue demanded. "What on Earth is a Visser?!"

"Not on Earth," Silver muttered.

Blue grit her teeth. "He is now!"

«Visser Three is the only Yeerk with an Andalite host body,» the Andalite explained, his thought-voice strained with urgency. «He and he alone has the same power as me–as you. Now run! Save your planet!»

"But _how_?" I demanded, my voice cracking under the stress of the tall order.

He smiled again with his eyes. «You will find a way. Now run!»

The rest of us didn't need any more encouragement. The urgency of his command and the rapidly approaching red lights of the Bug fighters were enough, but on top of that, there was another presence in the night sky–the one that the Andalite had seen–far more massive and radiating darkness darker than the black of the night sky. I didn't know what it was, but I knew it meant trouble. Four of us, including me, bolted.

But Green was different. He stayed knelt by the Andalite's side for a half of a second longer, as though transfixed. The alien put a hand to Green's forehead, and he jerked slightly, as though shocked. But half a second later, he was scrambling to his feet, as desperate to get away and hide as the rest of us, only a few steps behind.

Before we managed to get to cover, one of the Bug fighters switched on a red searchlight. I thought we were toast, but then I realized the light was just beyond where we were running, back where the Andalite lay beside his ship. They hadn't seen us, but if we stood still, it was only a matter of time. "Run!" I urged my friends. Yellow stumbled, and I grabbed her arm, pulling her back to her feet. We had seconds at best.

The five of us hurled ourselves over a wooden fence. On the other side, dirt had piled into a slope against it. We pressed ourselves against that dirt slope and prayed that the searchlights couldn't x-ray through the wooden scaffolding a few feet above us. We peered cautiously over that slope and stared as the second Bug fighter's searchlight joined the first's, illuminating the Andalite like a supernova.

The ships descended toward the ground, and as they got closer, I understood why they had their name. They looked like a Kakuna lying on its belly. They were bigger than the Andalite's fighter, but far less graceful. The windows, instead of looking like windows, resembled the compound eyes of a Butterfree, set into the front of the ship. Two spear-like protrusions pointed forward from the front, on each side of the eyes. I knew without a doubt they were weaponry.

They landed, surrounding the Andalite's ship, one on each side.

"This is unreal," Silver muttered. "This can't be real. This _can't_ be real."

"Shut up!" Blue hissed. "What if they can hear us?!"

Finally, the more massive craft that I'd seen–or sensed, really–in the sky above began to descend. My first thought as I saw it was that it wouldn't be big enough to land. My second thought was desperate hope that it wouldn't. Something about it filled me with the same sort of dread that had filled the Andalite's thought-voice when he'd seen it. I knew, without a doubt, that the thing the Andalite so feared, the Visser thing, was in that ship.

It landed, burning an earthmover to ashes, and I almost lost all hope.

The ship looked like a battle-axe, like a weapon of war used for delivering the finishing blow to a defeated enemy. The front part was the handle, with a point at the front where the pilots must have sat. The twin blades were the wings, jutting outward. It was huge. Far bigger than the Bug fighters. It sat in the construction site like a portent of death, radiating darkness.

I thought it was bad just sitting there. Then, the door opened, and I knew we were dead.

Out from the ship leaped outlandish alien creatures, twisting and whirling and slicing the air like huge, deadly acrobats. Every part of them was a weapon. Their heels, their toes, their elbows, knees, heads, shoulders... every limb and joint was adorned with a sharp blade. They looked like a cross between man, dinosaur, and bird, with razor sharp talons and beaks, legs that seemed to bend the wrong way, and rippling muscles under their green skin.

«Hork-Bajir Controllers,» the Andalite explained, and I realized that he was still able to speak in our minds, even at this distance. «When not infested, they are naturally a peaceful people. But their kind–all that remains of their species–are Controllers. There are no free Hork-Bajir in the entire galaxy.»

"That's terrible," Yellow whispered, barely audible.

"Yeah, terrible," Blue muttered. "Those things are war machines!"

More aliens slithered out of the door to the ship, which I'd decided to call the Blade ship, for lack of an official name. These were different than the Hork-Bajir. They were like snakes, except instead of a normal head, they had a round hole, rimmed with razor-sharp teeth, through which a long tongue lolled, and multiple gelatinous-looking eyes. Needle-like legs protruded from the long, green, swollen body, but closer towards the head, those legs had claws like a Krabby's. They were twice the size of a human. They could've swallowed us whole.

«Taxxon-Controllers,» the Andalite identified the new arrivals. He was trying to explain as much as possible before he died, to give us the best chance possible. «Taxxons, even in their right minds, are evil.»

"Yeah, that's pretty obvious," Silver muttered.

More Taxxons and Hork-Bajir spilled out of the Blade ship, forming a perimeter around the dying Andalite and then quickly and efficiently searching the immediate area for potential witnesses or threats. A Hork-Bajir holding a device around the size of a handgun bounded towards us, and my heart stopped. I barely had time to whisper, "Get down!" and duck out of view before it was nearly on top of us.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I held my breath, hoping beyond hope that the Hork-Bajir wouldn't look over the fence. I wondered in horror whether it could sense heat, like thermal-vision. If it could, we were as good as dead. I could hear its ragged breathing as it stood just on the other side of the fence, looking around. I waited one second. Two. I looked around at my friends. They were all as petrified as I was.

«Do not make a noise!» the Andalite warned us in our heads. «Hork-Bajir cannot see well, but they have very good hearing!»

Upon hearing the advice, I clamped my jaw shut even tighter. Fear must have been radiating off my very skin. It pumped through my body with the force of a waterfall, coursing through my limbs and turning each of them stiff with terror.

You don't understand true fear until you're a second away from death. You think you're frightened when you see a guy in a costume jump out from behind a bush and shout at you. You think you're frightened when your parents catch you staying up late at night to play video games. You think you're frightened when you haven't studied for a test and realize you don't know the answer to any of the questions. That's nothing. True fear is knowing you're two feet away from the thing that can and will end your life, if you give it the chance, and all you can do is sit there and hope it won't.

The Hork-Bajir looked around, attempting to penetrate the darkness of the night with its weak eyes. Its breath rattled in its throat. It swung the handgun thing left and right like it was hoping it would strike some target to attack. My lungs began to burn from holding my breath for so long.

Then the Andalite spoke. «Courage, my friends.» And at that moment, it was like a warmth passed through my entire body. I don't know how to explain it. It felt like I'd just drunk a steaming mug of liquid reassurance. I suddenly wasn't as afraid as I was before. Sure, the Hork-Bajir was still standing two feet away. I was still plenty cautious not to draw its attention. But what had been panic was now replaced by reasonable caution. It suddenly became easier to hold my breath.

Finally, after what felt like a year, the Hork-Bajir withdrew, not because it was satisfied with its search, but because something far more important was going on. Something new was coming out of the Blade ship.

Slowly, ever so slowly, I raised my eyes over the fence. I was greeted with a surprising, and somehow disturbing, image. Every alien, every Hork-Bajir and every Taxxon, had turned towards the Blade ship's door. It felt like I was witnessing something almost religious, but without a doubt, evil. I was watching a Satanist congregation, and I was about to see Beelzebub himself.

"They're like soldiers," I murmured ever so softly once I became aware my friends were also looking. "They're standing at attention."

"How do you know?" Silver muttered. "How can you tell if a Wurmple on steroids or a walking lawnmower is standing at attention?"

And that was when he appeared, radiating death on four hooves.

«Visser Three,» the Andalite said coldly.

Visser Three was also an Andalite. Or, I suppose, an Andalite-Controller.

"That's an Andalite!" Blue hissed. "That's one of _his_ people!"

«Only one Yeerk has ever taken an Andalite host body,» the Andalite explained. «Visser Three is the only Andalite-Controller in existence.»

Visser Three strutted calmly out of his ship and swaggered over to the dying Andalite. He had an air of utter confidence about him. I'd seen that demeanor before. It was the manner of someone who knew they had absolutely and completely won. He radiated that confidence, but it mingled with something else. It was as though there was an aura of evil about him, the same that I'd felt coming from the Blade ship when he'd been on it. In person, it was even more powerful. I now understood why the Hork-Bajir and Taxxons seemed to be almost cowering in his presence.

«Ha ha ha,» Visser Three chuckled in our minds.

"Oh God," Yellow gulped, eyes as wide as if she was seeing death itself. "If we can hear his thoughts, can he hear ours?"

"No way," Blue muttered. "If he could do that... we'd already be dead."

«You can hear Visser Three's thoughts because he is using wide-range thought-speak,» the Andalite spoke up, as though he'd predicted our fears. I suppose he'd had experience doing this sort of explanation with other species of aliens over the years. «He wants all to hear him in his triumph. I am speaking in private thought-speak right now. He cannot hear me. Creatures with vocal capabilities, like yourselves, except when they are morphs, cannot use thought-speak. He cannot hear you think.»

«If it isn't a fallen Andalite warrior,» Visser Three said, his very thoughts laughing in triumph. «And not just any Andalite warrior, if I'm not mistaken. Prince Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul, isn't it? I am honored to meet you.» His 'voice' was tainted with sarcasm. «You're a legend among us Yeerks! What do my soldiers call you? Beast Elfangor? For good reason, it seems. You destroyed more Bug fighters than I could count in the battle. Impressive.»

Elfangor didn't respond. To accept such a sarcastic compliment in defeat would be shameful.

«Well, it was of no matter in the end. Your army is destroyed. Your Dome ship is gone, incinerated in the atmosphere. You are the last Andalite in this sector of space. Tragic indeed.»

«More will come after me,» Elfangor said.

The Visser laughed, stepping closer. «Oh yes, I don't doubt it. But that will be a long time from now. When they get here, they will be too late. This world will be my conquest. The Council will make me Visser One.»

«Why do you want these humans?» Elfangor asked. «Why them, of all species? What can they offer that Hork-Bajir and Taxxons cannot?»

«Because they are many, and they are weak,» the Visser sneered, narrowing his main eyes. «They are too foolish to understand they are being invaded, despite their massive population. Billions of hosts, ripe for the taking! We will have an unstoppable force, a body for every Yeerk. The galaxy will be ours. You must face facts, Beast Elfangor. You have fought, but you have lost.»

The Visser got within a few feet of the dying Andalite, who, despite his pain and fear, rose to his hooves, glaring at his adversary. I understood why. He didn't want to die lying down, in a position of disgrace. He wanted to die on his feet, looking his enemy in the eye.

Visser Three paid no mind to the Andalite's bravery, though, continuing to taunt him. «One thing I guarantee, Prince Elfangor. Once we have taken this planet, once every Yeerk has a host from this world of plentiful bodies, we will take the Andalite home world. I will make absolutely certain that your family is captured, and that I personally hold them down as my most faithful lieutenants infest them. I hope they scream.»

That was the tipping point for Elfangor. With blinding speed, so quick that I could barely comprehend, he whipped his tail forward, and the blade bit deep into the Visser's shoulder. It wasn't the kill move he'd aimed for. His wound and fatigue had caused him to miss the Yeerk's neck. Still, it was a deep blow. Visser Three stumbled back, raising a seven-fingered Andalite hand to the cut, which was spewing decidedly not-red blood. I could hear the Visser bellow in my head, the sound furious and pained.

At that exact same moment, coordinated by Elfangor's thoughts, I guessed, the Andalite fighter's 'tail' glowed blue with energy, and a bolt of energy laced from its tip to the nearest Bug fighter, slicing into it and causing it to erupt in a fiery explosion. Even from where I was, I could feel the heat, like opening an oven at high temperatures.

«Destroy his ship!» Visser Three roared.

The Hork-Bajir armed with the handgun things, Dracon beams, as Elfangor had called them, fired, all at once, at the Andalite's ship. Red energy bolts arced through the air, slamming into the side of the craft. With a slowness I didn't expect, the laser fire lethargically disintegrated the ship. Just as the Andalite had said, all that would be left left was a few random atoms, if that.

But that didn't hold my attention for long, because with the construction site eliminated by the continuous laser fire, I spotted... or I thought I spotted, at least... humans. There were only a few of them, but they were standing near the Visser, distinctly on his side of the miniature conflict.

"Look, there are people," I whispered to Silver.

"Huh? Are they prisoners or something?"

«Seize the Andalite,» the Visser ordered. «Hold him in place for me.»

Hork-Bajir surged forward and grabbed hold of the Andalite, holding down his limbs, including the deadly tail. They made sure not to let their blades touch him, though, for fear of taking away the Visser's kill. Elfangor was trapped in a mess of blades. One wrong move, and he'd be dead.

Though the alternative might not be much better...

As we watched, horrified, Visser Three began to morph. His stolen Andalite body shifted and melded, creaking and groaning as his bones and organs rearranged and grew. It was a scene straight out of a horror movie, just with less blood. He grew and grew. His legs joined together, forming large stumps as big around as a Wailmer. Tentacles shot from the sides of the pulsing ball of flesh his body had become, lashing the air with a murderous fervor.

"Oh God, oh God, oh God," Yellow whispered, repeating the phrase over and over in a shaking voice. Tears were forming in the corner of her eyes.

"This can't be real," Silver breathed. "This is impossible!"

Then the Visser's mouth split open, ripping through the hideous lump of flesh that I realized was its head. Teeth like lances shot out of ever part of those monstrous gums, rimming the orifice with more weaponry than forty Hork-Bajir.

Nothing remained of the Andalite body. The monster had replaced it.

The beast let loose with a thundering roar that shook the very ground, causing several Hork-Bajir to stumble backward. That noise must have woken up half the neighborhood. It was a nightmare on legs. I willed myself to wake up, to realize this was all a bad dream. I didn't. I couldn't. It was real.

"Oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God..." Yellow was still whimpering. She hadn't stopped. I didn't think she could.

A tentacle whipped forward and grabbed Elfangor around the neck, lifting him out of the cluster of Hork-Bajir. The Andalite snapped his tail forward over and over, trying to sever the monstrous appendage, but it was no use. The creature was too massive, too tough.

I watched, horrified, as the Visser lifted him higher and higher into the air, until he held him, struggling and helpless, right over the enormous mouth.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

I wanted to do something. I wanted to get to my feet and start punching and kicking the Hork-Bajir until I got to the monster, and then start beating it as well. I wanted to pop open each and every one of those slimy Taxxons. I wanted to put my own life at risk, just to have a chance at preventing what I knew was about to happen.

Unconsciously I'd risen so that I nearly stood above the fence. Blue had grabbed the neck of my shirt and was holding me back. She looked up at me, eyes wide, and I realized she was soundlessly mouthing the word 'no' over and over, trying to get me to stop. She'd realized with more clarity that I had: after this, we were the only ones left. If we died too, it was game over.

I watched as the beast opened its mouth wide–wider than any crevice I'd ever seen. I watched as the tentacle released the Andalite, and gravity dragged him down into that mouth. And then I couldn't watch any more. I averted my eyes, unable to watch what his thought-spoken screams meant, unable to watch his body shredded by the teeth, unable to watch as life finally left him, and his dying scream went silent.

Another sound filled the air. A strange huffing noise. I wasn't sure what was making it at first, but then I risked a glance over the fence. It was the Hork-Bajir. They looked like they were convulsing with the noise, but I knew what it was. There was only one reaction a creature as evil as a Yeerk could have when its leader defeated one of its kind's greatest enemies: laughter. They were laughing at Elfangor's death.

A Taxxon gobbled up something from the ground. I hoped it wasn't what I suspected it was, but I knew better. The Visser's morph was a messy eater. The Taxxon was slurping up the leftovers.

It was too much for Green to watch. He covered his eyes with both hands, shrinking further down the dirt slope. Yellow was now crying, still moving her mouth in the same petrified phrase, "Oh God, oh God, oh God..." but now voicelessly.

Then I heard a sound that made my spine go cold, because it was so familiar. The Hork-Bajir were huffing, the Taxxons were screeching, but the humans... the humans were laughing. Normal human laughs. But not normal, because it wasn't actually them. It was the Yeerks in their brains forcing them to make that noise, forcing the helpless hosts to laugh at such an atrocity. One of those laughs sounded familiar, but I couldn't place it.

Visser Three morphed and melded himself back into his Andalite body, limbs and organs squishing and creaking their way back in place. «Ah,» he thought-spoke. «Nothing like an Antarean Bogg morph for... taking a bite out of your enemies.»

More laughter. More human laughter I couldn't quite place.

Then, Silver's stomach decided it had had enough, and he started to empty it on the ground next to us, making a considerable amount of noise. The sound was enough to finally attract the attention of the Hork-Bajir nearest to us. His head snapped around, weak eyes focused directly on our hiding place.

We might have been able to keep hidden if we'd just stayed quiet and perfectly still. But that didn't happen, because one of us–I don't know who–panicked, and then in a matter of milliseconds we were running as fast as our legs could carry us.

The Hork-Bajir shouted to his fellows. I heard heavy, bounding footsteps. They would be on top of us in a matter of seconds.

"Split up!" I shouted. "They can't follow all of us!"

Each of us turned, heading in five different directions that were generally away from where the Visser and his ships sat.

I leaped over a short fence about my height, landing hard on my stomach and scrambling to my feet. Realizing I was the most athletic of the group, I decided that I needed to distract the aliens to give the others a chance to escape. I stood up behind the fence and started waving my arms and shouting at the Hork-Bajir. "Hey! Come at me, you jerks!" I yelled, and then let loose a string of obscenities I'd learned and hadn't had the chance to use yet.

For better or worse, I got their attention, and the largest clump of the bladed aliens bounded after me, faster than I could run. Muttering another one of those obscenities under my breath, I whirled and continued running, hoping that if I dodged and weaved through the dilapidated architecture enough I'd be able to lose them.

I hurdled over a stone barrier, darted in between several wooden beams, and dove under a broken concrete wall. All the while the Hork-Bajir leaped after me, breathing hard and every so often firing a red Dracon beam, incinerating something near me to ashes. I was gaining ground, but slowly, and their aim kept getting better.

Soon I came to a dead end, save for a large concrete pipe. I hesitated for a second, not wanting to blindly plunge in, since there could be another Hork-Bajir waiting on the other side, but a Dracon beam sizzling the dirt inches from my foot convinced me that I had to move.

I launched myself into the pipe, which was just large enough for me to run through if I bent down. Halfway through the pipe, I collided with something soft, fleshy. I looked down and saw that it was a homeless man with a scraggly gray beard and angry eyes. A half-burnt cigarette stuck out of his scowling mouth.

"Get outta here, kid! I don't got anything for ya to steal!" he snarled.

"Sorry, I–" I started, hoping to be able to warn him about the Hork-Bajir, but a Dracon beam laced into the pipe and hit the man's hand. He screamed as his flesh burnt and dissipated. "Sorry," I said again, and scrambled past the guy. I didn't look back.

Just as I exited the other end of the pipe, relieved to see the coast was clear, I heard the Hork Bajir speaking in a strange mix of languages, alien and English, combined into one. "Ghafrash! Enemy here! Hit!"

I really hoped the guy got away. The scream I heard as I leaped the chain link fence that marked the perimeter of the construction site didn't bode well, but I still held on to the hope that he'd had a chance.

I ran as fast as I could. The ground blurred beneath my feet, grass mixing with sidewalk mixing with asphalt. My lungs burned, my muscles ached, and my mind reeled, but I kept running. I ran for as long as I could, and then I ran some more.

And I hoped, beyond all hope, that this was all just a nightmare.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

I don't know how it happened, but I managed to make my way home. I don't have any memory of getting to my neighborhood, finding my house, or going in the front door, but somehow it happened. My parents were both already asleep. They assumed I'd get home just fine. I briefly considered waking them up and telling them about what had happened. But I didn't. After all, they could be Controllers.

I called my friends, one by one. They had all escaped just fine, shaken up, but otherwise okay. Alive, at the very least. Silver seemed to not want to accept it was real, demanding that I tell him he was dreaming. I didn't. I wasn't sure myself. Yellow was the most shaken. The entire phone call, I half expected her to resume her broken repetition of 'Oh God,' but she held herself together enough to avoid that.

Once I was sure they were all safe, I crashed into my bed, closing my eyes and wanting nothing more than to forget. My sleep was dreamless. Nothing I could dream about would compare to the living nightmare of that night.

By morning, I was almost convinced it had all been just a nightmare. Something so crazy couldn't have been real, could it?

"Red!" My mom knocked on my door, finally jarring me awake. I'd slept through my alarms. "Are you even alive in there?"

"Yeah," I replied, my voice ragged.

"One of your friends is here," she said. "Green."

I paused, my still-drowsy brain processing. "Green?" Why would Green be here? He'd never come over before, and I'd never been to his place either. We were acquaintances at best, but not friends, not by a long shot.

"Hi Red," Green's voice came through the door. "Can I come in?"

I blinked a few times, rubbing my eyes. "Uh... yeah, I guess."

He came through the door and said thanks to my mom before shutting it behind him. There was a wide grin on his face, the kind he didn't normally have. He was practically bouncing with unaccustomed energy.

"Red," he said, his voice hushed, but alive with excitement. "I did it."

I stared at him and then rubbed my eyes again. "Did it? Did what?"

I yawned, and his answer caught me with my mouth open. "I became Dude."

My jaw slammed shut so hard that my teeth hurt. Dude was Green's pet Meowth. "What?"

Green's eyes flitted to the door and the window like he was checking for witnesses, and he lowered his voice even more. "Just like Elfangor said. I became Dude. I morphed him!"

I couldn't find an appropriate response. Reality had just set in. Green remembered what had happened too, apparently just as vividly as I did. Elfangor wasn't just some name my dreaming mind had fashioned out of thin air. It was real. He was real.

"It was so weird," Green continued, oblivious to my shock. "I was just petting him this morning, and I remembered what Elfangor said, and so I decided I'd give it a shot." He started pacing and tapping his fingers to his thumbs like he had too much energy to let his hands sit still, both things I'd never seen him do before. "So I thought about Dude and I... what was it?... acquired, that's it. I acquired him. And then I kept on concentrating on him, and I looked at my hand, and... what do you think I saw?" He grinned hugely. "Go on, guess!"

I shrugged. "Uh... I don't know."

"Fur! I had fur, and my fingernails were claws! Dude started to freak out, so I had to stick him outside, but after that, I kept on morphing."

That was when I hit the point of disbelief. I just couldn't fathom that this was real–what he was saying, the Andalite, the Yeerks, none of it. "Green, I'm pretty sure you were just dreaming."

Without meaning to, I'd hit a nerve. All of a sudden, the grin was gone from his face, and he was almost scowling. "No, I wasn't. Don't you get it? It's real. All of it. Real. Stop trying to lie to yourself about it. It doesn't work."

I realized then that he'd already been through the same process I had, and just happened to be a few steps ahead. He'd woken up earlier and gotten a head start. He'd done the same thing I had, sitting in bed, trying to reconcile nightmare with reality. He'd thought about it, probably for hours, and then, once he concluded that he wasn't sure, he'd tested it. He'd used the power we'd gotten in that construction site, the power Elfangor had given us to fight the Yeerks. And that had been the final straw. He'd had to admit it. The nightmare was real.

I hadn't come to any such conclusion yet. "Show me," I ordered. "If it's so real, then prove it."

Green grinned again. "Okay. Watch this."

I watched, waiting patiently, as he closed his eyes and screwed up his face in concentration. I waited for a few seconds before a smirk made its way across my face. "Green, I don't think you trying to hold your breath for as long as you can is going to make me any more convinced."

"What was that?" he asked, and opened his eyes. I nearly recoiled. His pupils had changed. Instead of his usual green eyes, they'd become the tall, narrow, feline glare of a Meowth.

"Y-Your eyes," I began, but already more of his body was changing. Just like he'd said, his skin began to erupt with patches of short tan fur, making its way up his arms and neck and coating his face. I saw his fingernails shift and thin and grow a protective sheath until they were retractable claws, positioned at the end of his still very human fingers. His canine teeth grew and sharpened until his grin showed off thin fangs. His ears slid up his head, and as they did, his natural hair retreated into his skull. Then, the most incredible thing of all: he began to shrink, losing height and width until his clothes became baggy, and then he disappeared completely inside of them.

Throughout the entire process, I'd sat there, mouth hanging open in shock, too surprised even to scream. I wanted to get up out of my bed and bust down my door and call the police and shout that Green was transforming into some sort of monster. But something kept me frozen to where I sat, my eyes glued to the spectacle before me.

Something stirred inside Green's clothes, which had pooled on the floor as he'd shrunk. I slid out of bed and knelt beside the pile of fabric. I watched as a lump shifted around, squirming back and forth to try to find a way out. Finally, from the gap between Green's shirt and his pants, out slipped a small feline form.

Green had been replaced by a Meowth.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"This isn't real," I decided, staring down at the Pokemon. "I'm dreaming. I have to be."

«You're not dreaming.»

I froze, glaring down at the Meowth. "Was that you?"

The Pokemon's eyes widened. It sat back on its hind legs and blinked at me. «Wait, you can hear me?»

"...Yeah," I said after a long, thoughtful pause.

«That's... Huh, okay. I didn't know I could send my thoughts like this.» Green flicked his tail. «Just like how Elfangor did.»

"It must be something you can only do while you're..." I hesitated, not wanting to say the word. "While you're in morph."

«That makes sense. I guess.» Green sounded both confused and excited. He began to scratch behind his ear with his hind leg, contorting his feline body in a way that would have put a human in intense pain. He sat up quickly, like he'd had an idea. «Oh, hey, check this out!»

He crouched down, wiggled his haunches a few times, and then fired his muscles, leaping up onto my dresser. He'd jumped five feet straight up into the air, the equivalent of a human leaping onto the roof of a second story building, like it was nothing. He licked a paw and I could swear he grinned even more than the natural smirk of a Meowth. «Pretty cool, huh?» He sat down again and began licking his paw, using it to clean his face.

"Green, what are you doing?" I asked.

He kept washing himself. «Well, I have to look good, don't I?»

I shook my head, bewildered. "Why? What's the point?"

The Meowth that was Green paused, tongue hanging out and paw behind his ear. «Uh... I don't know,» he admitted, resuming normal sitting position. «It's like... I'm me. I'm in control of my brain just like normal. But I'm also Dude. I can feel his mind in my head too. I want to do the things a Meowth would want to do. I have to keep myself clean. I have to look my best.» I could swear his eyes started to look worried. «What if there's another Meowth around? What if it thinks I'm the beta because I have a hair out of place?» He self-consciously smoothed his fur again.

"Green, I think I've figured something out," I said.

«What?»

I chewed my tongue, trying to think of the best way to explain what I'd realized. "When you're morphed, you're not just a person with the body of a Meowth–you're a person in the body of a Meowth."

Green tilted his head. «Yeah, that makes sense, I think. It's like I have the body of a Meowth, and that body has all the instincts of a Meowth, and my human mind is just piloting it. I have to focus to control the Pokemon into doing what I want it to.»

This was all getting too weird. "You should change back." I stopped myself before I added 'please.'

He nodded, something I'd never seen a Meowth do before. It was unsettling. «Okay.»

He leaped back to the ground and changed back to human, and it was no less disconcerting as it had been when he changed to a Meowth. First the fur vanished, leaving a pink hairless creature I think I'd had a nightmare about once. Then, his ears creaked back into place, shifting shape into normal ears halfway down. His eyes returned to normal, his legs grew longer, and his tail was vacuumed back up into his spine like spaghetti.

When he was finished changing, he was crouching on the floor without anything covering him. I averted my eyes as he hastily pulled his clothes back on.

"We should try to figure out how to do this with clothes," he suggested, embarrassed.

I raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean 'we?'"

He shrugged. "Red, we were both there last night. We both have the power. If I can morph, you can too."

I hesitated, then shook my head. "Nope. I don't think so."

I'd hit that nerve again, the one that made Green angry. Immediately, his expression resumed the scowl that almost scared me, made me wonder what he was capable of. "You just don't get it, do you? This is real. All of it. Real."

I shook my head. I didn't want to hear it. "Go home, Green."

He grabbed my shoulders and shook me. "Listen to me. This is real. All of this is REAL. Elfangor died to give us these powers. He wanted us to fight."

I pushed him away. "Fine then. You fight."

"I'm going to," he said, his tone slightly gentler. "But we need you too. You're the most important part of this."

I laughed without humor. "Oh yeah? Why's that?"

He hesitated. "I... Don't you get it? I'm not a leader. I can't make plans. I can't give orders. I can't do any of that. But you can, Red. You're a leader."

I snorted. "Me. A leader. Yeah right."

He stared at me with eyes roiling with trouble. I knew what he was about to say. It didn't make me any more willing to hear it.

"Yeah, that is right. You're our leader, Red. You're the only one who can bring us all together. You were the one to go into the Andalite's ship first. You made the decision to split up last night, saving all our lives. You distracted all those Hork-Bajir when they would have caught us if you hadn't. We have all this power... the power to be any Pokemon as long as we can touch it... but we need someone to direct that power. Without a leader... without you... we don't stand a chance."

Against my will, I felt myself nodding. I knew what I had to do. No matter how much I hated it, Green was right. Whether I liked it or not, my friends needed a leader, and I was the one who had stepped up. I'd done the difficult stuff last night–the stuff nobody in their right mind would want to do. Now I was going to have to do it some more.

At that moment, I knew how Atlas the titan felt, with the world on his shoulders. I could practically feel my knees buckling with the weight of responsibility I'd just accepted.

I couldn't possibly have known how heavy that planet was going to get.

"Well," I said, realizing what I had to do next. "Let's catch us a Zigzagoon."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

I needed to find an animal to morph. I had to try the process for myself, now that I'd accepted everything was real. Seeing Green become Dude had been interesting, but now it was my turn. The only problem: I didn't have a pet.

So that's how Green and I found ourselves poking around the bushes in my backyard, looking for a Zigzagoon.

Zigzagoon are pretty common in my neighborhood. I live in the suburbs of our town, so it's a regular thing to see a Zigzagoon come dashing out of the bushes, darting left and right compulsively, and steal something from a trash bin, before zigzagging back into the foliage with its prize.

I figured it wouldn't be too hard to catch a Zigzagoon, since they were just about everywhere, and reasonably harmless. The key to it was to block the two directions it could move and pounce while it was trapped. However, today the neighborhood seemed to be having a shortage of the critters, because we waited, crouching like idiots, for half an hour with no luck.

"You know," Green broke the silence. "I could just morph Dude and go searching for one."

It was a sensible suggestion, but for I still found myself opposed to it. "Yeah, you could, but I think we should keep this whole morphing thing to a minimum."

"Why's that?"

I shrugged. "I mean, we know about the whole two hour thing because Elfangor told us, but he also mentioned there were other dangers to it. What if you... I don't know, overload it or something? Like, you morph too much too quickly and it stops working."

He tilted his head, a gesture he seemed to have picked up from his time as Dude. "Yeah, I guess I see your point, but what's the harm in one more morph?"

I saw another danger as he finished his question. We'd been talking about morphing and Andalites and Yeerks in our outside voices this entire time. With a sick feeling in my stomach, I realized that if a Controller was listening in, we were worse than dead. I lowered my voice. "Can we not use the m-word when we don't know who's listening in?"

Thankfully he understood. His eyes widened. "Ohhh, yeah. Got it."

As if to prove my point, my mom's voice came from dangerously close behind us. "Red? Are you two okay?"

We whipped around to see her standing on the back porch with her hands on her hips, and tried to not look suspicious, which is surprisingly hard to do when you're squatting on the ground and facing a huge tangle of bushes. "Yeah, we're fine, mom. We're just looking for..." I hesitated, unable to think of an excuse.

"My frisbee!" Green supplied, giving her a convincingly goofy smile. "We lost it in the bushes."

My mom raised an eyebrow, still skeptical. "Really? You didn't have a frisbee when I let you in."

"Uh..." Green looked panicked. "It was... uh... under my shirt?"

A couple of seconds passed, and I considered a horrifying possibility. What if my mom was a Controller? How long had she been standing there? Had she already heard something incriminating? Even if she hadn't, our behavior was enough to make the potential slug in her head very suspicious.

Finally, she let out a very slow, very unconvinced, "Uh huh," and shrugged. "Well, I hope you find it, then. Do you two want me to make you some snacks?"

I shook my head. "No, we're not very hungry. Thanks, though."

Another shrug. "Okay. Well if you need me, I'll be inside, working on my book." My mom is an amateur writer. This was one of the rare days she was home from her office job and had time to work on her passion project. She cast a glance over towards another section of the bushes, and then her expression turned curious. "What's that?"

I whipped around to face where she was looking, half-expecting to see a Hork-Bajir commando crawling out from underneath the underbrush, or a Taxxon slithering into the open. Instead, my face broke out into a grin as I saw exactly what we were looking for. Just yards away, a Zigzagoon had burst out of the bushes and was making a mad dash toward our open trash bin.

My mom reacted like I expected she would, which said absolutely nothing about whether she was a Controller or not. If she was, she'd react the exact same as normal anyway. She took a half step backward in fright and shrieked. My mom isn't the best with animals, especially rodent-types. "Oh, oh, oh!" she yelled. "Get it Red! Get it out of here before it steals our trash again!"

I was more than happy to obey, and sprinted towards the Pokemon, shouting something to Green about cutting off its escape route. The Zigzagoon caught sight of me and began to run away, but my human skills of being able to run in a straight line proved useful, because I easily gained ground on it and leaped, pinning it.

It growled and struggled and fought to get free. I had to jerk my face away when it snapped at my nose, and then it began to gnaw at my hands with its tiny little teeth. It didn't hurt very much, but it was still annoying.

"Red, what are you doing?" my mom demanded, sounding almost hysterical.

"Stopping it from getting the trash!" I replied, gripping the Pokemon a little tighter to stop it from kicking its claws into my stomach.

"You didn't have to grab it!"

Fair point. "Uh... it seemed like the easiest option?" I offered lamely.

"Just get rid of it!"

I slowly got to my feet, making sure that the Zigzagoon didn't struggle free in the process. The brown and tan creature, which until today I'd thought of as gentle, and almost cute, even, hissed and spat and wriggled in my arms. It bared its fangs in a way that was not cute, and most definitely not gentle. I had to remind myself that it was scared, not naturally vicious, to resist thumping it in the head a couple of times.

As I walked back towards the bushes, deliberately slow to give myself time, I focused on the Pokemon. I took note of every single detail about it. Its triangularly spiked fur, its dark brown mask around its beady black eyes, its stubby little legs and bushy tail, the tiny, sharp teeth with which it was still trying to eat my hands... I pictured all those things becoming a part of me, being absorbed into my own being.

While I focused, I noticed that the Zigzagoon became very calm, almost like it had been hit with a tranquilizer dart. It stopped resisting as much, and the jaw that it had clamped on my wrist with intent to sever slackened and fell away.

When I reached the bushes, I had to stop concentrating. Almost immediately, the Zigzagoon started up its resistance again, and for fear that it would actually break my skin this time, I set it on the ground and watched it zigzag back into the bushes like the Devil himself was at its heels.

My mom sighed in relief when she saw it was gone. "I'm so sorry for freaking out on you like that," she apologized, more for Green's sake than mine. I was used to it. "I just can't stand those things."

"Don't worry about it Mrs. ," he said (using my mom's last name, which I have to redact for identity protection). "My uncle doesn't like small Pokemon too much either."

She smiled sympathetically. "Well, that's a shame. How does he feel about your Meowth, then?"

He hesitated before replying, "He... tolerates Dude." I knew he was lying by the tone of his voice, and guessed that his uncle would likely throw the Pokemon out on the street if Green wasn't around.

My mom remained oblivious and smiled again. "That's good to hear. Good luck finding your frisbee!"

When she was gone, Green turned to me, looking excited once again. The discussion of his uncle hadn't soured his mood for long. "Did you do it?" he demanded. "Did you acquire it?" I shot him a harsh look, warning him to quiet down, and he repeated the question, but this time in a softer voice. "Did you acquire the Zigzagoon?"

I nodded slowly. "Yeah, I think so." I cast a look around the yard, trying to spot potential spies, and found nobody. I then locked eyes on the porch, which had a short space underneath it, big enough to hide from view under. "I'm going to try morphing it under the deck," I whispered. "Can you cover me?"

He nodded, face glowing with excitement, and he followed me like a bodyguard until I ducked underneath the wooden structure, which he remained outside of, watching carefully for threats.

Crouched underneath the deck, I once again realized just how insane my life had become. Here I was, hiding like some sort of secret agent in my own backyard, getting ready to become a Pokemon that I'd just pinned down and released half a minute ago. I had just held it, and now I was going to become it. It was the kind of situation that sounded like it came from a bad joke ("a kid and a Zigzagoon walk into a bar..."), but it was deadly serious. I wondered, darkly, how long it would take before I completely lost it and woke up in the loony bin.

I shoved my worries and misgivings aside, though. Right now, I had a date with the body of a Zigzagoon, and I needed complete concentration.

I closed my eyes, just like Green had before he'd started to become his Meowth. Focusing my every thought on the Zigzagoon I'd just wrestled, I gritted my teeth and screwed up my face in concentration. After a few seconds, I realized I'd accidentally started holding my breath, and I let it out, releasing the tension in my body and mind. I ran a mental check through my body. Nothing felt any different.

"Green," I called towards the light filtering in from outside. "I don't think it's working."

"Hang on," came his voice. A moment later, his shadow moved and he ducked his head under the porch. He squinted in the near darkness, trying to see me, and after a few seconds of scrutiny, he grinned. "Red, do you normally have fur?"

I opened my mouth to answer that no, I didn't, but then I realized what he meant. I looked down at my arms and realized that they'd sprouted the jagged yet surprisingly soft fur of a Zigzagoon. I then felt my face, and nearly cried out in shock when my hands hit my nose far quicker than I expected. Crossing my eyes, I found that my nose had protruded outward along with my mouth into a hideous, half-formed snout.

I tried to exclaim, "What happened to me," but my vocal cords had already started to change, and it came out as, "Whr hpen hoo ee?!"

"Calm down, Red," Green soothed, like he was talking to a child. "You're fine. You just have to keep going."

"Br ss eered!" I protested, a substitute for, "But it's weird."

"Just keep going and you'll be fine," he repeated, a little more firmly. "You definitely don't want someone seeing you like this."

He had a point. As he turned to stand guard again, I breathed out and, with far less tension than I had the first time, focused my mind on the Zigzagoon. I imagined every last part of it. Its claws, its fur, its weird fuzzy ears... I pictured myself becoming that Zigzagoon, and the changes began.

Weirdly enough, the first thing that happened after I refocused was shrinking. I'd subconsciously expected shrinking to be gradual as the rest of me changed, but instead, it happened all at once, while I was still humanoid. The world grew larger around me. I looked down, and the ground rushed up at me like I was skydiving. It was a strange feeling, like falling but without emptiness under my feet. Soon, I was only about a foot or so tall. My clothes pooled around me, and I wiggled free of them in time to keep from getting trapped.

Then the rest of me started changing. My toes lost their roundness, pinching until they formed rough, stubby triangles with tiny claws at the ends, good for little more than scrabbling at something's eyes. My feet elongated and my knees bowed, forming the leg structure of a quadrupedal, until it was hard to stand up straight. I fell forward and caught myself with my hands, but they weren't hands anymore. My fingers had shortened and sharpened as well, becoming the same sort of paws as my feet.

I felt, in a far-off, dulled way, my ears sliding up towards the top of my head where they changed shape in ways I couldn't see. The fur that had begun on my arms traced its way up my body, sprouting like a cornfield on fast-forward until it covered my entire body. My muzzle finished forming, and my teeth rearranged and sharpened, and my canines lengthened proportionally to the rest.

I could 'feel' a tail shoot out of my back, and I looked back to see the fur begin to tuft up on that as well. Finally, my vision changed, and I saw the world as a Zigzagoon did, with muted, brownish colors, bad distance vision, and an excellent perception of movement.

The changes stopped. I was no longer human. I was a perfect copy of a Zigzagoon.

I began to think to myself that this was pretty cool. It hadn't hurt, and, unlike what Green had said, it didn't seem all too hard to control the natural impulses of the Pokemon. Then the Zigzagoon brain struck.

RUN! RUN! RUN! SCARY SMELLS!

I jumped to the side, my fur fluffing up to make me look larger to any potential threats. Where was the smell?! What was the source of the smell?! I swung my head back and forth, trying to find the scent.

There! That pile of soft things! Was it a threat? I edged toward it cautiously, ready for it to stir and attack. I got closer and closer, eventually right on top of it. I sniffed at it, my fear at the scary smells temporarily superseded by my curiosity.

Hmm... scary smells, but no scary thing. This was odd. And a familiar taste to the scent, triggering a memory deep in my mind that I couldn't place. Was this something I knew? No... no, my nose had never smelled that particular flavor before.

With the danger evaporated, I looked around a little more before coming to the conclusion that there was nothing of interest in the dark place. There was light. I headed toward it. Light usually meant open spaces, and there were lots of things in open spaces–things I could find and dig up and take back to my... nest? Did I have a nest? If I didn't, I would have to make one.

I zigzagged out from the dark space and immediately jumped in fright, bristling again. To my left there were strange oval things that smelled similar to the scary smells from the pile of soft things. But these oval things connected to tall cylinder things, and those went upwards even further, towering into the sky like a tree.

MOVEMENT! MOVEMENT AND SOUND! SCARY SMELLS MOVING AND MAKING SOUND!

"Red? Is that you?" The tower was making sounds. I didn't understand the sounds. The sounds weren't important. Not as much as the MOVEMENT! I leaped away from the tower, drawing back my lips in a snarl. Could I fight? Scary smells usually meant I couldn't. If I couldn't, I would run.

"Red, what are you doing?" The tower MOVED MORE, folding upon itself and descending. DESCENDING ON ME!

RUN!

I was off like a rocket, darting back and forth across the grass. Not even the bugs on the grass blades could stop me. They were food, but food could come later. Food was for when there wasn't any MOVEMENT!

"Red, slow down!" The tower had started MOVING after me, faster than me. This time I realized that I sort of understood the sounds it made. Something was familiar about them. I knew one of those sounds. I knew what it meant, though my ears had never heard it before.

HIDE! HIDEHIDEHIDEHIDEHIDE! But where? Where was a good hiding place to escape the MOVING tower?

There! Another tower, but filled with friendly smells, not MOVING and with an opening. I'd hide in there!

I zigzagged over to the friendly tower and fired my hind legs. I flew through the air and landed on the opening of the tower, falling a short ways inside. The friendly smells surrounded me, things I could eat and collect. But now wasn't time to eat, now was time to hide. I started scrabbling at the contents of the tower, trying to burrow, but nothing would budge!

"Red, what are you–? Oh, no, don't do that! Get out of the garbage, your mom won't like that!"

The unfriendly tower had caught up with me! I whirled to face it and hissed, pressing myself as flat as I could against the far wall of the friendly tower's insides. I considered making another run for it–maybe if I could jump past the unfriendly tower I could get away... But something about the sounds it made stopped me, made me think about things my brain wasn't used to thinking about.

'Red.' I knew that sound. 'Mom.' I knew that sound too. 'Your.' What did 'your' mean? Right, possession. Someone else possessing something. And the unfriendly tower said 'your mom' to me. That meant... my mother? But my mother was a Zigzagoon like me. Why would she care if I messed with the trash? Only humans cared if I messed with their trash. Was my mother... a human? But that would mean that I was...

"Red, are you okay? You look like you're having a midlife crisis."

«Hold on, I'm thinking!» I thought, and then realized that I was thinking in the same language as the tower–no, the human. I was thinking the human language. I was understanding the human language. My mother was human. I was...

«Human!» I exclaimed, reclaiming my identity.

Green jerked back in surprise at my outburst. "Uh... yeah. That's right. I'm human."

«Yes!» I agreed. «I'm human too!» I sat back on my haunches, looking up at him. «My name is Red, and I'm a human, not a Zigzagoon!» I shook my head, an unnatural motion for a Zigzagoon. «Sorry, that took me way too long to remember.»

"That's... uh..." He still looked slightly disconcerted. "It's fine, I guess I took a while the first time too. Are you sure you're in control?"

I considered. I still had the absurd urge to burrow in the garbage underneath me until I found the leftover meat I could smell in the pungent aroma, because three-day-old, rotten hamburgers sounded surprisingly good to my Zigzagoon brain, but other than that, the Pokemon's instincts seemed sufficiently muted. «Yeah, I think so.»

"Good, because I thought I was going to have to chase you down." Green peered at me, lowering himself until we were close to eye level. He grinned. "So what's it like?"

I tried to shrug before realizing my joints didn't work that way anymore. «It's okay. I'm a little jumpy–well, a lot jumpy, actually. The Zigzagoon wants to get away from movement, dig, find things, and eat garbage.»

He frowned. "Eat garbage? Like, metal and plastic?"

I laughed. «No, no, like banana peels and old cereal and stuff.» I chose not to tell him about the rotten burgers. I was already disgusted by that, and my brain was still telling me to eat them. I could only imagine how an uncompromised human brain would react to that idea.

Suddenly, Green's head jerked to the left, away from me and back toward the porch. He started to look panicked. "Get down!" he hissed at me, speaking hurriedly. "Get down and stay put!"

Surprised by his sudden movement, the Zigzagoon in me needed no encouragement, and I pressed myself as flat as I could against the near-solid layer of garbage, holding perfectly still.

"Green?" I heard a voice say from a distance, muted by my less-than-optimal Zigzagoon hearing. "Why are you looking in the trash can? More importantly, why are you talking to the trash?" It was my mom. She must have come back out onto the back porch.

"Oh, hi, Mrs. ," Green said, his nervousness audible in his voice. I prayed my mom would dismiss it as his natural timbre. "I was just... uh... We thought we might have thrown the frisbee in the trash, so I was looking for it in there. And I was talking... to myself... about... where it might be..." He was struggling. I prayed my mom wouldn't investigate further.

A long pause. Then, "I assume it's not in the trash can?"

"No ma'am," Green confirmed.

"Then can you please stop digging through our garbage? I know it's for a good reason, but the neighbors might start to wonder."

"Of course. Sorry for the trouble."

"It's okay, Green." I mentally sighed when she said that, figuring the situation was over and I could escape and demorph. Of course, I had no such luck, because she then asked the question I'd dreaded. "Where's Red?"

This finally stumped Green. The panic in his eyes made it obvious that he hadn't prepared to answer this question, and the fake grin (which looked more like a grimace) that he plastered on his face wasn't fooling anyone. "Uh... he... well, he..."

This was going south fast. I thought frantically, trying to come up with some way to help him without alerting my mom to my presence. I seized on a memory from the night before, when the Andalite had mentioned public and private thought-speech. It had to be worth a shot.

I focused on sending my thoughts to only Green, and advised, «Tell her I'm searching farther into the bushes, towards the woods.»

He gave a worried glance at me that I hoped my mom didn't notice, tipping me off that he'd gotten the message. "He's, uh, searching in the bushes. Farther out, towards the woods."

"The woods?" I couldn't tell for certain, but I thought my mom sounded a bit worried. "Well... just make sure he doesn't go too far. The woods can be dangerous."

I mentally laughed, making sure that she wouldn't be able to hear it. If she only knew how dangerous my life had gotten since yesterday. Put bluntly, the woods were now the least of my worries.

"Yes ma'am," Green agreed. "I'll do that."

A few more moments passed where I became acutely aware that my breathing was rustling a plastic bag and making noise. I desperately hoped my mom hadn't heard that. The last thing we needed was for a potential Controller (as much as I hoped it wasn't the case) to witness Green talking with a Zigzagoon. If that happened... well, it was at least close to game over, if not already there.

Finally, after several seconds of waiting, Green turned back to me, breathing a sigh of relief. "She's gone. Sorry for waiting. I just wanted to make sure she wasn't going to come back out."

«That's a good idea,» I agreed. «Better safe than sorry.»

Firing my back leg muscles once again, I jumped deftly out of the garbage can and landed hard on the ground a few feet below, my legs failing to support my mass completely and my belly hitting the ground hard enough to knock the wind out of me. Obviously Zigzagoon weren't as nimble as Meowth.

«I'm going to change back,» I announced, already heading back toward the porch. «It's way too risky to do this in my backyard.»

"You're right," he said with a nod. "We should meet up later somewhere a bit safer. All of us, I mean."

«Okay.» I made my way under the porch, into the reassuring darkness my Zigzagoon brain liked so much. «Yellow's place is really near the Viridian Forest. Lots of open space and not a lot of people around. I could call her and see if we could do it there.»

His voice came from close to the opening. He must have resumed guard duty. "Yeah, that sounds like a good place."

«Cool,» I said, beginning to morph back to human. «I'll call around later. In the meantime, keep quiet about all this. We can't have anyone finding out about our powers, or that we know anything we shouldn't. That could get us killed.»

"Or worse," he added darkly. "Will do, Red. Will do."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Green left soon after I finished changing back. My clothes were now riddled with pine needles from under the deck, so I started towards my room to change them. However, on the way, my dad stopped me in the hallway.

"Hey, sport!" he said, grinning. He likes to call me nicknames like 'sport' or 'champ' or 'tiger.' He's told me before that they remind him of how his dad used to talk to him. My personal theory is that he just started doing it to annoy me and it ended up becoming a habit. Either way, it's kind of our inside joke. "You look like you've been outdoors. What's with the pine needles?"

I thought of coming up with some sort of lie that would cover up why I was covered in the leaves of a tree that was a few months out of season. I decided against it, and instead told a partial truth. "I was searching under the porch for Green's frisbee."

"Nice, nice," he said. He looked approving. "Not afraid to get a little dirty to help out your friend. That's a good quality, champ. And you know what?" He raised an eyebrow knowingly. "Girls love that in a guy."

I rolled my eyes. "All right, dad."

He didn't look off-put by my dismissiveness. Instead, it seemed to encourage him to talk more. It turned out that this had just been small talk. "Hey, Red, I know I'm not home from the office too much lately. The boss man is giving us long hours, and I can't really say no, you know? The system's got me in its grip!" To illustrate, he clenched a fist like he was choking something. "I feel really bad about it, because I don't get to see you a lot anymore."

I shrugged. My dad (and to some extent, my mom) had recently started spending long hours at their office jobs, and were rarely home throughout the day anymore. I didn't mind much, since with them out of the house I could focus on my homework and other stuff without interruptions. It was getting a bit lonely, though, as time went on. As much as I didn't want to admit it, I was starting to miss spending time with my parents, as much as they annoyed me. Still, I didn't bring that up, and said, "It's really fine, dad. You have to do what you have to do."

He sighed. "I knew you'd say that. It's just the kind of stoic guy you are. But..." He snapped his fingers, his grin returning. "There might be a way for us to spend some more time together."

I raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "What's that?"

"Well, have you heard of Team Rocket?"

"No," I admitted truthfully. The name tickled a vague memory of a small article I'd read on the back of a newspaper, but I couldn't remember anything significant.

My dad launched into explanation without missing a beat, almost like he'd rehearsed this. "It's this great organization that does charity work and social get-togethers. I joined up a while ago along with some guys from the office, and it's been great! It's like being a part of something monumental–something way bigger than yourself." As he spoke, he got a sort of faraway, knowing look in his eye. I raised a skeptical eyebrow. That look wasn't one he often got.

He cleared his throat and continued. "Anyway, I thought it might be nice if you joined up as well. I'm at meetings a lot of the time during lunch breaks and on weekends, and I'm of course at the campouts and other fun stuff like that. As one of the full members, it's expected." He grinned at me. "If you joined, we could spend a lot more time together through Team Rocket. It could be like the old days, you know?"

I remembered the old days. Dad's job hadn't always been so demanding. It was only in the past few years that he'd been required to spend more hours in the office. He'd expressed discontent many times, but the pay was just too good to quit. Before that, though, he'd always had time to look after me, and play catch, and have those father-son talks that don't seem important at the time, but slowly start to better your character as the years go by. Before his job ramped up, my dad had been able to... to be a dad.

Yet that wasn't enough to sway my skepticism. I briefly wondered why he'd joined Team Rocket, since his time at home was already so scarce. Perhaps it had been an office thing that his coworkers had pressured him into? Doubtful, but possible. Still, it struck me as odd that he would join some social club before worrying about his own family.

"Tempting," I said, keeping my voice even. "But I'm going to pass for now."

I can't say it didn't hurt to see his face fall at my answer. "Oh," he said, his voice downtrodden. He seemed to have put a lot of stock into this offer. With forced enthusiasm and a fake smile, he quickly recovered his usual demeanor. "Well, that's okay. I get it. You're the kind of kid who doesn't like to rush into stuff too quickly. That's a good quality, Red. But at least keep Team Rocket in mind, all right, sport?"

"All right," I agreed. "I'm going to go to Yellow's place, if that's okay."

"Yellow..." he mused. "She's that girl from the grade below yours, right?"

"Yeah." I already knew where he was going with this.

A genuine grin broke out across my dad's face. "All right! Making friends with the ladies, eh, tiger? That's my boy!" He laughed and ruffled my hair, as chipper as though the previous conversation hadn't happened, and made his way past me down the hallway. I didn't bother telling him that it was a group thing. It couldn't hurt to let him have his fun teasing me.

I didn't change out of my pine-needle-littered clothes. I was too distracted. The conversation had left me confused, though I couldn't figure out why. When my dad had laughed just then... hadn't I heard that same laugh somewhere before–someplace that I didn't associate with him? But where...?

Bewildered and unsettled, I made my way out the door, and started the long walk to Yellow's house.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Yellow lives with her uncle on the edge of the Viridian Forest. Nobody is sure what happened to her parents, not even her herself, but when they'd vanished in Yellow's infancy, before she had any real memories of them, her uncle had taken her in.

Back then, he'd had a farm, with Miltank and Rapidash and even a few Tauros. Now, after a few years of working to gain funding, he runs the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic out of what used to be the barn. Most people just call it the Clinic. It's a veterinary-type organization that specializes in just about everything except pets. Lycanroc, Noctowl, Pidgeotto, Fennekin, Deerling... you name it, it had probably been in the Clinic at some point.

Yellow has taken on the role of his assistant in running the Clinic, in between schoolwork and downtime. She helps him with various tasks, like giving medicine, calming unruly Clinic residents, tending to the equestrian Pokemon, cleaning, gardening, and other such things. She has fun with it, though, so she never views it as chores.

Her uncle also works part-time at a place called the Viridian Nature Preserve. It's a sort of zoo that's based around the idea of Pokemon having large environments in which to run free like they do naturally, kind of like in Jurassic Park, except without Tyrantrum and Aerodactyl breaking free to eat everyone (thank the Lord those things are extinct). They always have incredible exotic Pokemon, so it never gets boring to go there.

When I got to the barn, Silver, Blue, and Green were waiting for me outside, chilling on a couple of bales of hay. Neither Yellow nor her uncle was to be seen. I figured he was at the Preserve, and she was probably finishing up some work.

Blue was sprawled out on her back on the hay, eyes closed like she was sunbathing. She had a newspaper folded over her stomach. When she noticed I'd arrived, she opened an eye and tossed it at me. "Check this out."

The front page article was circled in black Sharpie. I looked at the headline and got a sinking feeling. It read "ALIEN HOAX" in large, bold letters, with the subtitle, "Flying Saucers or Juvenile Delinquency?"

I skimmed the first few sentences of the actual article, squeezed alongside an overlarge picture of the construction site. The article told about how several people had noticed flashing lights at the construction site last night and called the police to report a disturbance, and how many of them had claimed to have seen flying saucers. It was fairly short, but the content made me hopeful, despite the title.

"Well, it looks like the police know about it now," I said. "That's good."

Blue rolled her eyes, obviously exasperated with my optimism. "Keep reading."

I did. The rest of the article went on to cover how police had investigated the scene and found that the whole thing was just a bunch of teenagers setting off illegal fireworks. The teenagers had run, and the fireworks had been taken as evidence. "Flying saucers," read a quote from one officer. "What a joke. This was just some juvenile delinquents playing with fireworks. The whole idea of spaceships was a bunch of panicked nonsense."

At the bottom of the article was a small note, offering a considerable reward for any information about the aforementioned teenagers. The police were looking for us.

"This is a load of garbage," I decided, tossing the newspaper to the ground. "The whole thing is a lie!"

Silver laughed darkly. "So glad Captain Obvious is on our side."

"Well..." I struggled to think of some way the conclusion I knew I was going to have to make was false. I couldn't, and decided to instead try to draw a positive from the article. "At least we knew a few people think it was aliens."

"A few people thought it was aliens, you mean," Blue corrected. "Anyone who read this newspaper and had any doubts about what they'd seen will immediately trust the more believable story." She shrugged. "And go on, say it. You've figured it out; you're not stupid. Tell us why the police would be covering this up."

I hesitated. I really didn't want to accept it. But I had no choice. "The police are Controllers."

"Not all of them, probably," Green added, keeping the tiny shred of optimism in the situation alive.

"Yeah, not all of them," Silver agreed, his tone still dark. "But a lot of them. Enough to push through this totally fake story without any resistance."

"And if the police have Controllers among them," Blue continued his thought. "Then how many other powerful positions do as well? The government? The radio? The TV?"

"Businesses?" Green added. Then with a bit more hesitance, "The school?"

A nervous shiver passed through all four of us. The idea that any one of our teachers could be, and could have been for who knows how long, the puppet of a parasite slug was chilling, to say the very least. It made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.

"Mr. Benson has to be. He wouldn't have given me a D on that quiz if he wasn't a Yeerk," Silver joked, trying to lighten the mood. It didn't work.

"This can't be real. It shouldn't be," Blue said, but there was an air of defeat to her tone that betrayed even she didn't believe what she was saying.

The light breeze rustled the hay in the bales, a surprisingly eerie sound. Perhaps it was just because I was so on edge, but I fully expected an army of Controllers to show up at any second. This was too much to handle, especially for a bunch of kids.

Like he'd read my mind, Silver said, "Look, why do we have to deal with this? Why us? We're just kids, what are we even going to do? Let's just forget about it. Let's never morph. Let's just keep our heads down and stay out of the whole thing."

Silence. I realized Blue and Green were expecting me to answer him. Had Green told the others that I was supposed to be the leader already? The thought made me a bit nauseas. If he had, that meant it was all but official. The weight on my shoulders grew even heavier.

"Silver," I began. "You have a point, but–"

That was the tipping point. "But what?!" he exploded. "Don't you get it? This isn't some sort of video game. This is real, Red! R. E. A. L. REAL! We could get killed! We could get eaten, just like that Andalite!"

Green gave Silver a funny look. I understood why. Green was the most enthusiastic about fighting the Yeerks. Of course he'd be off-put by someone seeming so cowardly about it. But I also understood why Silver had such a strong resistance to getting involved.

Silver suddenly quieted down and looked at the ground. "I know, it's terrible. I want these Yeerks off our planet just as much as the rest of you. But if I died... my mom would..."

He didn't finish. I knew what he was talking about. Two years ago, Silver's dad had died, drowned in the middle of the sea. Nobody had managed to find a body, and eventually they gave up, assuming the tides had carried it out into the deep. Silver's mom couldn't handle it. She quit her job because she couldn't stand to be around people and spiraled into a deep depression. She's only able to keep a roof over herself and her son by working odd jobs at odd hours. The rest of the time, she sat alone, watching TV with no sound.

"I don't care what you think of me," Silver continued. "Call me a coward if you want. But I can't get myself killed for this. If I die, my mom will die too. She's only keeping herself alive because I am."

I wanted to do something to comfort him. Maybe a pat on the back. But, knowing him, he'd just make a joke at my expense out of it.

Blue moved past the topic, seeming unwilling to address it at the moment. She squinted into the sun, farther out into the fields. "There's Yellow."

I turned to look where she was looking, and I saw a Ponyta galloping towards us. I didn't see Yellow.

The Ponyta came closer, slowing down, and I got a strange feeling about it. It slowed to a stop right next to us, and I could swear there was something very, very unnatural about it.

"Yellow and I have been here for a while," Blue explained. "We've been practicing."

Ah, so that was what was strange about the Ponyta. I felt another bit of nausea that my reaction to something so strange was already so muted.

"She's really good at this. She can do it way faster than I can," Blue continued. "Check it out."

The Ponyta started to melt, a human face forming as the equine muzzle retracted back into its skull like a kid squishing putty. The hooves started to split into fingers.

"Hi guys," Yellow said with a big grin. Her teeth were still the size of the Ponyta's.

"I'm gonna puke," Silver informed us, and looked green enough to prove it. This was the first human morphing he'd seen.

"First, don't," Blue ordered. "Please. Second, it's just Yellow. Nothing strange about it."

Nothing strange about it. Right.

Yellow continued to change, becoming more human before our eyes. I realized that I should probably look away, because from my experience, morphing is usually a clothes-less affair. But before I did, I noticed that Yellow's more human parts were covered with a black, skintight fabric that I recognized as a gymnastics leotard. With no reason to look away, I continued watching, and realized, around halfway through the morphing process, that Yellow was deliberately controlling the changes, because no freak accidental order of changes could have resulted in her torso being perfectly human, while she still had the body of a Ponyta from the waist down. It had to be on purpose, because she looked almost exactly like the Andalite.

"Whoa," I said, an understatement. "You are good at this."

She grinned. "Thank you!"

There was almost a serenity to watching Yellow change slowly back to human. Compared to Green's and my own morphing, it seemed almost therapeutic.

But that serenity was shattered when we heard tires on the gravel road. There was a car approaching the barn. We whirled to face it. There was no mistaking that iconic black and white design.

"It's the police!" Green yelped.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"Morph!" I ordered. "Yellow, morph now!" The police car accelerated. Had it seen something? "We can't explain this!"

"Which way?" Yellow wailed. "Human or Ponyta?" She shuffled her hooves in place, and I could see the Ponyta's muscles flexed, ready to panic.

"Human! As fast as you can!" I answered, stress straining my voice. "Everyone, cover her!"

The police car braked hard on the gravel. I hoped that meant the cop had only now seen something of interest. If not...

It must have been an odd sight for the police officer who stepped out of the car. The four of us not currently morphing stood shoulder-to-shoulder, like the row of defenders for a penalty kick. I waved at him, hoping to alleviate the tension. "Hi, officer!"

"Morning," he said. I couldn't see behind his sunglasses, but I could practically feel the gears whirring inside his head as he processed what he saw, and his suspicion grew. "Are you kids... uh... hiding something?"

I had to fight my urge to check on Yellow. If I did, the officer would know for certain that something was wrong. "No, sir," I lied, hoping by the time he forced the issue we wouldn't be hiding something.

That answer wasn't good enough. "Step aside, all of you," the policeman ordered. His tone made very clear that he wasn't about to ask twice.

We did, and by some miracle, Yellow had completely finished morphing back to human in record time. She smiled and waved, trying her best to avoid suspicion, which wasn't easy wearing only a gymnastics leotard in the middle of farmland.

The officer stared at us for a few seconds, his mouth a thin line. My breath caught in my throat. Had he been playing with us this whole time? Had he actually seen something wrong far before we'd shielded Yellow?

After several long moments, he finally shrugged, and I let out a silent sigh of relief.

"Can we help you, sir?" Blue asked in her "responsible" voice.

"Possibly, young lady," the policeman answered. "We're making a few inquiries around town about some teenagers who were shooting off fireworks in that abandoned construction site last night. I'm sure you saw it in the paper," he added, nodding towards the newspaper, still lying on the ground where I'd dropped it.

"Uh huh," I said, trying to keep my voice neutral. "We did."

Silver started coughing, like there was something stuck in his throat.

"Is he okay?" the officer asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow at him.

"Yes, sir," I answered quickly.

He shrugged, moving on. "You see, son, we want these kids. This is a very serious issue, and they need to be caught for it. See, the construction site is very near to a whole lot of homes. One thing goes wrong, and someone gets hurt. So we have to find them, to teach them a lesson."

That was the point where I knew that this police officer wasn't just an honest guy looking to apprehend some juvenile delinquents. I knew for absolute certain that he had to be a Controller. Inside his head, his brain was wrapped in an alien slug that was controlling his every movement, his every word.

"We haven't heard anything," I lied.

He gave me the same skeptical eyebrow he'd given Silver, and stared at me for a very long time. "You look familiar," he said at last. "Do you happen to know _?" he asked, using my dad's name.

"Yes, sir, he's my dad," I answered, trying to keep my voice under control. It was so hard to ignore the elephant in the room, to try to forget that behind that man's eyes, wrapped around his brain, lurked an evil Yeerk.

"Ah, he's your dad. Good man, _ is. I met him at a Team Rocket meeting a while ago. I'm one of the adult supervisors, like him. Great group, Team Rocket is. You all should come to a meeting."

"Yeah, my dad already invited me to one," I said.

"It's a lot of fun."

"Uh huh."

The officer shifted, standing up straight with his chest puffed out a little, just like any other cop trying to make the police look impressive to the youth. "Well then, I suppose I'll go now. Make sure to tell me if you find out anything about those kids. They might try to use that flying saucer story to throw you off, but you're too smart to believe something so crazy, right?"

"He's a modern-day Sherlock Holmes," Silver said.

After what felt like several years, the policeman finally left. We waited until his dust trail was out of sight before speaking.

"Right, ground rules," Blue announced. "No morphing in public. No talking about anything morphing or Yeerk-related in public either. We have to be secret about everything from now on."

"I like that," Silver added. "The 'don't be stupid' ruleset."

Yellow blushed. "Um... yeah. I was pretty dumb there. Sorry about that. It was just so hard to remind myself to be careful about anything, with the Ponyta's mind so fixated on running. When it's running, it's like it can't be afraid of anything."

"How'd you manage to morph clothes?" I wondered. "Green and I tried it, and we... well, I suppose it's just good you and Blue weren't around."

"It took a whole lot of practice and concentration," she explained. "And we can only do tight clothes. Anything looser than skintight gets shredded. It's going to be really cold when winter comes."

"But hey, that won't be a problem!" Silver said, his voice dripping with sarcastic optimism. "Because guess what? We're never morphing again!"

"Maybe we shouldn't," Blue chimed in. "This is way beyond us. We're just kids. We should tell someone, someone we can trust."

"No we shouldn't," Green countered grimly. "There's nobody we can trust. We can't tell anyone. Anyone could be a Controller. If we tell the wrong person, the world is doomed."

Yellow frowned. "Well I'm not going to stop morphing. It's too important of a power not to use it. Whatever the rest of you do, I'm going to keep doing this."

"Oh no you're not!" Silver snapped, glaring at her. "Because all it takes is one slip up, one time getting caught, and you've got one of those slimy things inside your brain, and that means the rest of us get taken too! Game over!"

She bit her lip, scowling at him like she wanted to disagree, but couldn't find a way around his point. Instead of arguing, she looked to me. "What do you think, Red?"

I raised an eyebrow. Suddenly I was the one whose opinion mattered? "I... I don't know. It's true that we could get killed, yeah, but it's also true that if we don't do anything, the human race is done for. And we can't trust anyone to help."

"So what?" Blue demanded. "What should we do?"

I threw my hands up in the air. "I don't know! Why am I the one who has to decide?"

"Then let's vote," she said.

"I vote we don't actively try to ourselves killed," Silver offered.

"Well I vote we do what Elfangor asked us to: fight," Green countered.

Silver laughed contemptuously. "Oh sure, you want to fight. Tell me, when have you ever been in a real fight before? You can't even stand up to the punks at school when they take your stuff. What are you going to do against Visser freakin' Three?"

Green didn't respond, locking his jaw and looking away in embarrassment.

"I'm with Green," Blue said, glaring at Silver. "We're the only ones who can do this. We have the power. We have a responsibility to use it."

Silver was about to go off on another tangent, probably involving a severe takedown of the word "responsibility," but Yellow spoke before he could.

"Maybe we should wait," she suggested in a placating voice. "This is a really big decision. We shouldn't rush into it without taking some time to think."

I sighed in relief. Thanks to Yellow, the argument wouldn't blow up any further. "I agree. We should wait. But until we decide, don't tell anyone anything. We just go back to normal life."

Normal life turned out to be a lot more challenging than I'd expected.

Silver and I walked to my house together, trying to keep the conversation as far away from Yeerks and Andalites and morphing as we could. We talked about baseball, and comic books, and video games we were planning to play when we got to the house.

We ran out of things to talk about very quickly, and walked the rest of the way back in silence.

When we got to the house, we went to my room, where I'd figured out how to hook up the Nintendo 64 to my computer monitor. The graphics weren't the greatest, but it was still cool to be able to play games in my room. We booted up Mario Kart and tried to play, but neither of us did very well. Silver kept running off the course. I could barely focus myself, and the computer players ended up flattening us. Video games had become far less interesting than reality.

My dad came into the room after a few races. "Hey, sport, hi Silver," he greeted us. He took a look at the computer screen. "Mario Kart, huh? Mind if I give it a shot?"

That was odd. My dad hadn't played a game with me in months.

Silver shrugged and passed my dad his controller.

We played a few more races, and I was surprised. My dad actually did pretty well, even on the harder courses. I wouldn't have expected him to be so skillful. But then, after a few minutes, he seemed to get bored. He gave Silver back the controller and just stood back and watched.

"Did you guys see all that stuff about the kids in the construction site?" he asked suddenly. Silver twitched, nearly running off the road again.

"What stuff?" I asked, playing dumb. It couldn't hurt to distance ourselves as much as possible from the search.

"In the newspaper," my dad said. "There was an article about some teenagers who were shooting fireworks in the construction site last night." He laughed. "Apparently some people in the area decided it was flying saucers! Isn't that crazy? And it was all just some kids with fireworks."

"Yeah," I agreed, trying to feign disinterest and keep my focus on Rainbow Road.

"Weren't you two at the mall last night?"

"Yep."

"Did you go through the construction site?"

"No way."

"You didn't see any kids going in there or anything?"

"Nope."

"That's good. I'm glad you weren't involved in that kind of behavior. That's a very irresponsible thing to do, using fireworks in a place so near to other buildings." He laughed again. "Still though, it's funny that they managed to get everyone convinced that it was flying saucers."

"Uh huh."

"As if anyone in their right mind would believe something like that. You wouldn't, right champ? You're too smart to believe in little green men from Mars, right?"

They hadn't been green, they hadn't been little, and they most definitely hadn't been from Mars. I had the bizarre urge to tell him that. "Not a chance," I said.

The race ended, and my dad nodded. "Great. That kind of stuff pollutes your brain, you know?"

Yes, it very much does, I thought.

Then came the question I'd wondered whether he'd ask since he first come in the room. "So, have you decided anything about Team Rocket?"

"No," I replied, honestly. "I haven't really given it much thought."

"Ah, well," he said, keeping his tone deliberately nonchalant. I knew how much this meant to him, though. Our first conversation about it had been more than enough to convey that. "I really hope you'll join up. You too, Silver."

Silver turned to face him, raising a skeptical eyebrow. "Why should we join?"

My dad grinned. "That's half the fun of it. If I told you everything now, where would the surprise be?" He ruffled my hair and headed for the door, but made sure to say before he left, "Oh, and remember, if you guys hear anything about the kids at the construction site, tell me. See you, sport!"

When he was gone, Silver gave me a grave look. "Red, he's one of them."

"What?"

"Your dad is one of them," he repeated. "Your dad is a Controller."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

My fist connected with the side of Silver's head before I even registered what my body was doing. The unplanned punch wasn't powerful, not as much as it would have been if I'd prepared for it, but it was enough to knock him backward onto the floor.

"Dude!" he shouted angrily, getting to his feet. "What was that for?!"

I didn't answer, and instead lunged at him again with another closed fist. He was ready this time, and dodged so that I fell over, and then proceeded to sit on me with all his weight, pinning me to the ground.

"Red, quit it," he said, in response to my struggling. "Stop being an idiot."

"You're wrong!" I snarled, trying to push myself off the ground. "He's not!"

"Oh really?" Silver gave me a harsh glare. "How about we think for a second, huh? Remember how the Controller police are investigating the construction site? Do you think it's some sort of coincidence that your dad is suddenly interested in it too?"

I had to admit, the evidence was pretty solid. The connection was far too conclusive to be just a coincidence. And on top of that... something about the way my dad laughed still bothered me. Could he have been...?

No way! My dad was my dad! He didn't have some alien parasite controlling him–he wouldn't have let it happen.

"Are you calmed down enough yet?" Silver asked. "I don't want to have to sit on you all day."

I scowled up at him. "Not until you take it back!"

He rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to take it back, but I will admit that I might be wrong. Is that good enough for you?"

That was close enough to the answer I was looking for. I stopped struggling, and he let me back to my feet.

"Come on, Red," he said. "Even you have to admit that it doesn't look very good."

"He's not," I asserted. "He's not one of them."

Silver shrugged. "Suit yourself, but just remember the 'don't be stupid' ruleset, even around him."

I was about to retort something along the lines of, "You can take your ruleset and stick it up your–" when suddenly something started beating against my window, rapidly and repeatedly.

I whirled around, my mind immediately panicking and going to Yeerks. Could they have found us already? Had the cop from earlier just tricked us into thinking we were safe? Was it really possible for them to be at my house?

However, what was outside the window was definitely not a Yeerk, unless Yeerks somehow figured out how to grow wings and feathers. Just beyond the glass wasn't an alien or even a Controller–it was a large bird, flapping madly and trying to keep itself aloft.

«Can you guys let me in already?» the bird demanded. «This thing is not made to sit still!»

"No way," Silver said. "Green? Is that you?"

«Can't really hear you through the glass, but I'm going to say yes,» Green agreed. He started flapping harder, pounding his feathers harder against the glass. «Now let me in! If I stay here much longer, I'm going to get tired and fall!»

I figured I had better do what he asked–having a bird on the lawn wouldn't bode well for keeping a low profile–and slid the window open. Green swooped in and came to a landing on my bedpost.

The bird he'd morphed was a large tan thing, with a slicked-back red crest and reddish-yellowish tail feathers. It stood around two feet tall, and clenched the wooden post with claws that looked like they could do some real damage.

"What are you?" I asked.

«A Pidgeotto.»

"Hey, more important question here," Silver began, sounding stressed. "Why are you a bird right now? I thought we said we weren't going to morph anymore."

The bird attempted to make a shrugging motion, but its wings weren't built for that, and it only managed to shuffle them a little. «Nobody agreed to that. I didn't. We said we'd put it off until later.»

"Either way, you need to morph back now," I said. "Remember what the Andalite said? Two hours?"

«Relax, I have half an hour left at least,» Green assured me, making that strange wing shrug again.

"Green." A warning edge crept into my voice. I hadn't meant to make it that way–it had just happened. I realized I was already assuming the role of a leader. It was my job now to make sure my friends didn't do anything ill advised. I was responsible for keeping them safe.

Atlas sank a little lower beneath his weight...

The Pidgeotto that was Green gave me a hard stare, hesitating for far too long. Finally, though, he hopped off the bedpost and hovered to the ground, where he began the demorphing process.

I won't go into the details–they're honestly just too gross, and I've run through enough morphing sequences already that you can get the general idea. But I did learn an interesting fact while watching my friend transform: hollow bones reconstructing into filled bones does make a sound, and it's just as sickening as you'd imagine.

When Green was done, he sat naked on the floor.

"Uh," he said, looking embarrassed. "I kind of forgot that I needed to bring clothes. I can't morph them yet like Yellow can. Can I borrow some?"

I gave him one of my shirts and a pair of my pants, but they were both a size or two too small. There was too much of a size difference to loan him closed-toed shoes, so I let him borrow my flip-flops, which were passable.

Green had the same hyperactive energy about him that he'd had when he'd first told me he could turn into a Meowth. It was like watching a little kid discover a video game and decide that it was the best thing ever. He couldn't seem to talk about anything else–which was good, because that was exactly what we needed to talk about.

"Flying is so cool!" he burst out, keeping his voice hushed for security, but still conveying more enthusiasm than I'd ever seen from him. "I was up there, catching the thermals and soaring."

"Thermals?" I asked.

"It's when the ground is really hot and the air starts rising," he explained. "You don't even have to flap–you just stretch your wings and let it carry you up for miles. You guys have to try it!"

Silver coughed, feigning politeness. "As much as I enjoy hearing how it is to be a bird, I think we're ignoring the real question. Where did you get a Pidgeotto morph?"

Green shrugged. "After you guys left, I looked around a little in Yellow's barn. There was an injured Pidgeotto there, and a Staravia, but I chose the Pidgeotto."

I tilted my head. "Injured? You mean like, 'can't fly' injured? Then how...?"

Silver rolled his eyes. "And the science award goes to... Red, there's a pretty big difference between DNA and a body. Morphs use DNA, and you can't break DNA."

As much as I didn't like the condescending way he put it, he was right. I remembered the Biology lesson where we'd learned that, around a year ago. I hadn't figured we'd ever need to know that, so I'd let myself forget. Now I realized that there were a lot of things I might need to drag up from my memory.

"You really shouldn't have done that," I told Green. "What if Yellow's uncle had seen you?"

He waved my concern away. "Relax, Red. He wasn't there when I acquired it, and I was far into the forest before I morphed. There's nothing to worry about." Suddenly, he looked sad. "Although I am sorry that the Pidgeotto had to be locked up in a cage in the first place."

I cocked an eyebrow. "Why? Doesn't it help it heal?"

Green shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. But now that I've been in its shoes, I understand how depressed it must be, not being able to fly all the time."

"We could give it an ad for therapy," Silver offered. "I'm sure if it had someone to talk to it might be happier."

Green scowled. "Joke about it if you want to. You can't understand until you're up there. It's the best thing that's ever happened to me. I wish I could fly all the time."

That sent up a little red flag in my head. I'd heard before about people who talked like that, people who didn't have the best lives and were looking for a solution–any solution. Those stories never ended well. Green's enthusiasm about this new escape and his life circumstances gave me a very bad feeling...

"Two hours," I said. "No more than that, Green. Even an hour and a half is cutting it close." I paused, a sudden question having occurred to me. "How did you even check the time?"

He grinned. "Bird eyes are great. Well, bird of prey eyes, at least. I could just look down at people's watches or the clocks in shop windows."

Silver frowned. "And what if those were wrong? What then?"

Green gave him a frustrated look. "Silver, do you really think that forty people are going to all have their watches set wrong? You're just looking for something to nitpick."

Silver shrugged, getting that serious, cold look in his eyes that he had when we were talking about how far the Yeerks might have infiltrated our society. "Maybe I am. But somebody needs to think straight here, and it's obvious that it's going to have to be me. I still think this whole 'I'm going to morph a bird!' thing was a stupid move."

"I hate to say it, Green," I said. "But he's right. What were you even doing up there?"

"I was looking for Yeerks pools," Green explained. "I figured I might be able to get a better vantage point from the air."

"Yeerk pools..." I muttered. The words sounded familiar. I vaguely remembered Visser Three mentioning building new Yeerks pools. "What's a Yeerk pool?"

"It's where the Yeerk slugs have to go every three days to restock on nutrients. They get out of their hosts and soak in Kandrona rays."

I was beginning to get a little nervous. Neither Silver nor I knew any of this. Unless Green had a better explanation, then the only way he could know so much about Yeerks was if he was already a Controller.

"Mind telling us how you figured all this out, Birdman?" Silver asked, keeping his tone neutral. If Green was a Controller, we couldn't let on we were suspicious.

"When Elfangor told us to run–when the Yeerks were about to land–I stayed behind for a few seconds," Green said, his voice and expression solemn. "I was scared. Really scared. I guess I was so scared I couldn't even run."

That was doubtful. Green hadn't been as scared as he was saying. He had stayed behind not because he'd lacked the willpower to leave, but because he'd wanted to stay until the last possible moment. He hadn't wanted to leave the Andalite's side. Something about Elfangor had meant something to him more than the rest of us.

"Well, you know how he showed us what Yeerks looked like? Just a picture in our heads? He did the same thing but more powerfully while I was there. He gave me a lot of information about the Yeerks in pictures. They're fuzzy because he wasn't able to concentrate well, but I know for sure that there's such a thing as a Yeerk pool and a Kandrona."

"Before we keep throwing around alien words like cocktails..." Silver muttered. He opened the door and checked the hall, and then, satisfied, turned back to us and said, "All clear."

"Clear?" Green wondered, giving him a funny look. "From what?"

"Red's dad," Silver answered, making me bristle. "He's one of them."

"Do you want me to hurt you?" I asked. "Because that's what it sounds like."

He raised his hands in surrender. "No, not really." He gave Green a sideways glance and explained, "He may or may not be, but unlike someone..." He jabbed a thumb at me, just like he had at the mall before all this had happened. "...I like to play it safe."

"That's a good idea," Green agreed, lowering his voice. "The Kandrona is like a miniature version of the Yeerk home world's sun. It beams out the nutrients they need, and the Yeerk pools concentrate them. The Yeerks swim in the pool once every three days to keep themselves alive, and then go back into host bodies."

"And so you were a bird... why?" I asked.

"I mean, like I said, I was looking for a Yeerk pool or a Kandrona." He shrugged. "I guess I didn't consider that they might be underground, but I figure they have to be, because I couldn't see anything special from the sky."

"And what if you had?" Silver challenged. "What would you do then? Dive bomb it as a Pidgeotto?"

"We would blow it up."

"Nope. That's something idiots would do, and last time I checked, we agreed on a 'don't be an idiot' ruleset. We decided to stay out of this."

"We didn't decide anything," I corrected him.

"I did," Green said, deadly serious. I'd never seen him so intense about anything. "I decided to fight. I'm going to, with or without you guys."


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"We're going to find the Yeerk pool, and we're going to blow it up," Green asserted, slamming a fist into his open palm.

That was the point where Silver should have flipped out, calling him a moron or telling him that was the sort of thing terrorists did. But instead, he got a clever grin on his face. "Hey Red, you remember that cop who questioned us today? The one who's really interested in the construction site and bringing in those bad kids with fireworks to his boss, Visser Three?"

I shrugged, thinking he was trying to change the subject. "Uh, well, yeah. What about him?"

"Well, let's see. He brings up Team Rocket. Then your dad comes in here and starts talking about the construction site. Is he normally that interested in this sort of stuff? And then he asks us to join Team Rocket too!"

Green nodded thoughtfully. "Now that you mention it, Team Rocket sounds like it could be a cover for Controllers."

"So let's run it back," Silver continued. "The cop is a Controller, as far as we know. And Red, as much as you don't want to admit it, I think your dad is too. So think about this. You want to hurt these Yeerks? You want to kill them? You want to destroy the Yeerk pool? Okay. But what are you going to do if you have to hurt and kill and destroy your own dad to do it?"

I froze. The implications of what I was thinking about getting into suddenly slammed into me like an iron weight. This wasn't just some game of numbers. If we blew up the Yeerk pool, we might end up killing a lot of humans. Humans we knew. Humans we cared about.

Humans who were our family.

Back in old wars, armies used to keep people from the other side as hostages, and threaten to kill them unless the other side stopped fighting. The Yeerks were subtler and crueler than that. They kept hostages, yes, but not as a bargaining chip. They held humanity as ammunition. If we fought them, we would make them fire that ammunition.

Was I prepared to do that? Was I prepared to look into the eyes of my friends from school on the field of battle and know that to fight their captors, I would have to destroy them too?

Was I prepared to do that with my dad?

Silver let me hesitate for a second, and then went on. "Why don't we just walk away from all this? Let someone else figure it out and fight. It's sad that the Andalite died for us, but I don't want anyone else to have to do that too."

I wanted to agree with him. I wanted to pass the whole problem by. I wanted to just let the world fend for itself. It's too heavy anyway.

But I couldn't. Atlas can't set down his burden. A leader can't run away. "No," I said. "Elfangor gave us this power for a reason. It wasn't just to have fun turning into Zigzagoon or Pidgeotto. He wanted us to fight."

Silver shrugged. "Suit yourself. What if your dad is the enemy, though? What if he's the one you have to kill?"

I forced myself to look and sound aloof. "Yes, that could happen. And it also couldn't. We don't know yet. Before we do anything, though, we have to find out more about this all. Our only lead so far is Team Rocket. There's a meeting tonight, at the beach–I saw it in the newspaper. I'm going to that. I'll let the others know too. You want to come, come. You don't, don't."

He didn't like it. I could tell by his blatantly frustrated expression. However, he didn't argue. "You're finally starting to use your head, huh? Recon is the best idea you've had all day. I'll come."

I called and explained to the others, making sure to say things in a way that wouldn't let on that we knew anything we shouldn't.

Blue agreed almost immediately. She'd apparently reached the same theory we had about Team Rocket, and I suspected she'd already been thinking about doing surveillance on the meeting on her own.

Yellow was initially a little hesitant. It made sense–every encounter she'd had with a Controller so far had ended in a do-or-die situation. Eventually, though, she agreed to come along.

My dad was ecstatic to hear that I'd not only decided to check Team Rocket out, but had convinced three of my friends to come with me (I didn't tell him about Green–Green wasn't going to be there 'in person'). He sounded so happy and enthusiastic that it became very hard to imagine the whole thing was a Yeerk sham. There was no way that someone working alongside Hork-Bajir and Taxxons could be so happy.

The beach wasn't very far. For caution reasons, we didn't let my dad drive us. Instead, the five of us met in my neighborhood and walked. Once we were far enough from houses and stores, Green slipped behind a row of tall bushes. A few minutes later, a Pidgeotto flapped into the air and caught an updraft from the hot asphalt, soaring into the twilit sky until it was out of sight.

"That's so cool," Yellow marveled, looking after him. "I've always wanted to fly. I have to try that sometime."

When we got to the beach, it was completely dark. There was a giant bonfire set up in the middle, towering about ten feet high. I wasn't sure in that was legal, but I guess Team Rocket had a permit if it wasn't.

I recognized a lot of the people illuminated in that fiery light. People I knew. People I'd passed in the hallways without a second thought. People who'd worked the registers at restaurants and gas station convenience stores. Mailmen. Janitors.

My dad.

Were they all Controllers? The thought made me shiver. If that many people already had Yeerks in their heads...

I didn't dwell on it. I did exactly what I was expected to, and plunged right in. We all did. We acted like we wanted to be there–like we belonged. And after a while, it really felt like we did.

The barbecue was good. The ultimate frisbee was competitive and fun. The fire was a warm beacon against the night air. I hung out with my dad, and it was just like it was before his job had gotten so busy. It was like I'd stepped back a few years, and everything that had distanced us was gone.

He and I sat side by side on the log seats around the fire around an hour after we'd gotten there, eating ribs.

"So, champ, you liking it?" he asked.

I wiped the sauce off my mouth and swallowed the bite I'd just taken. "I guess so, dad. It's way more fun that I thought it was."

He smiled. "Well, it's not just fun. That's the thing about Team Rocket. You come for the fun, but you stay for what it can do for you."

I raised an eyebrow. "What can it do for you?"

He shrugged. "I said before. If I told you now, there wouldn't be any surprise to it. We love surprises. But you'll find out, once you're a full member."

"How do you become a full member?" I asked, picturing some sort of initiation, like getting dunked in a lake.

There was a mysterious glint in my dad's eyes as he answered, the same glint he'd gotten when he'd talked about Team Rocket before, and how it was like being part of something way bigger than yourself. "I like the enthusiasm, sport, but if you're wanting to become one right now, you're out of luck. First you have to become an associate member, and after a while the leaders will decide whether you can be a full member. But once that happens... man, the whole world changes."

As he finished speaking, something odd happened. His mouth contorted ever so slightly, twisting into a shadow of a word I didn't recognize. At the same time, his face twitched a millimeter to the left, like he was trying to shake his head but couldn't do it, and his eyes shifted a tiny amount, darkening until they were almost... scared.

It was like watching a cartoon with a single frame of animation that was just slightly off. Everything looked normal up to it, and everything looked normal after it, but that one little frame messed the entire animation up. When my dad looked at me, for just a split second, he was a different man looking out of the same eyes. He was frightened, scared out of his mind. And suddenly, I knew the word he'd tried to say.

He'd tried to tell me, "No."

But then he seemed back to normal. As normal as he could seem, after that, at least.

"Well," he said, getting up and dusting off the seat of his pants. "I have to go for a bit. The full members have a private meeting. Have fun." He turned to go, but looked back at me with a grin and added. "Oh, by the way. That Yellow girl? She's lovely." He winked. "Good choice, tiger."

And then he was gone.

I felt sick.

A moment later, Silver and Yellow came over, having just finished a game of volleyball farther down toward the water. They were both grinning and laughing, having a good time.

"Okay, Red, you win," Silver said. "This is exactly what it looks like: just a party at the beach. Nobody here is a Controller, and neither is your dad."

But they were. And he was. I wanted to break down right there–to break down and cry and beg to wake up from this nightmare. But I couldn't. I was the leader. I had to stay strong. I had to keep myself under control, even if I felt out of control. Because just one droop of Atlas' shoulder, and the whole world comes toppling down.

I looked at Silver's and Yellow's smiles. I didn't want to take those away. Especially Yellow's. When I saw her smile, it made me feel like everything was okay. But everything wasn't okay. And I was the one who had to say it, because I was the one who knew the truth.

I knew what I'd seen in my dad's eyes in that split second, in that one out-of-place frame. At that moment, my dad had gained control of his face for just long enough that I could see it before the Yeerk wrapped around his brain crushed him again.

At that moment, my dad–my real dad–had tried to warn me.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

I couldn't say anything right away. Anyone around us could have been a Controller. If I told my friends the truth then and there, unless we got very lucky, we were dead. I had to keep up the act.

"The full members are going to a separate meeting," I said, trying very hard to keep my tone neutral. "I want to try to get see what's going on there."

Blue had joined us by then. "They're going off in that direction," she announced, pointing a little way down the beach, behind a few dunes. Over the crest of one, I could see light from a smaller campfire. "Your dad is there, and a few other people we know."

"I'm going to see if I can get down there," I announced.

Silver looked around at us, confused. "What's the deal? I thought we decided there wasn't anything weird going on here."

Yellow looked equally bemused. "Yeah," she asked, giving me a questioning look. "Red, did you see something strange?"

I cringed internally. Yes, I had seen something strange. I'd seen something so strange that it made me want to go to sleep right then and there in the hopes that I'd wake up and what I'd seen wouldn't be true. But I didn't want to say that. I didn't want to talk about it.

Thankfully, Blue answered for me. "Everyone here is just so unnaturally happy. Well, the full members, I should say. They're just way too... 'normal' isn't the right word. 'Perfect.' That's it. They all act perfect. I haven't seen a single full member so much as frown, let alone express any negativity. Real people don't act like that. And..." She shivered a little. "And they just don't stop watching you. Everywhere you turn, one of them has their eyes on you. It's creepy."

"Huh..." Silver mused. "I hadn't thought about it until now, but yeah, you're completely right. And they're all talking about how their lives changed when they got involved with Team Rocket. It's cult-like."

When he said that, I had a momentary flash back to the construction site, when a similar thought had gone through my head as we watched the Taxxons and Hork-Bajir stand around Visser Three. The sick feeling in my stomach worsened.

"Oh God..." Yellow was beginning to look fearful. She had the same sort of light in her eyes as she'd had when she'd watched Visser Three morph into that hideous monster. To have convinced herself nothing was wrong here, that she was safe, only for us shatter the illusion and tell her she'd been standing alongside the enemy–the enemy that she'd only barely escaped twice already–could easily be enough to cause her to break down in panic. I knew for certain I would need some serious willpower to keep a cool head if I was put in that position.

I reached out and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Hey, don't worry. Everything is fine. If we just don't draw attention to ourselves, nothing bad can happen. We don't know anything yet, anyway. We might be completely wrong." I desperately wanted to believe what I said, but I knew I was lying. For her sake, though, I had to say it. A necessary lie.

She took a long, deep breath, and let it out. Slowly, the panic drained from her eyes. "Right," she breathed. "Right. Just act natural, and nothing will go wrong. Got it." So saying, she forced a smile onto her face. It was a fake smile, all four of us knew it, but it would be enough to convince the full members that there was nothing to investigate. Another necessary lie.

"So how are you planning to get into that meeting, anyway?" Blue asked. "You're not a full member."

"And I don't think you want to be," Silver added darkly.

I shrugged. "Nobody's going to worry about some Zigzagoon wandering around on the beach."

He frowned. "What do you...? Oh," he said, realization dawning on his face.

"Good idea," Yellow said. "If my Ponyta morph wasn't so noticeable, I would come with you." She paused, and then added, nervously, like she thought I didn't believe her, "Really, I would."

I had no doubt she would have. But I knew that she'd be terrified out of her mind every step of the way. Bad enough to be among the enemy–even worse to immerse yourself in their inner circle. And her fears weren't unfounded.

She put on a brave face, but I knew she was nervous that at any second one of the members of Team Rocket would look at her and say, "Hey, you're that girl the police officer thought was turning into a Ponyta!"

And if she suddenly disappeared and a Ponyta showed up around that campfire, if that cop was here tonight...

"Thanks, but you're right," I said, giving her my best attempt at reassuring smile. "Suddenly having a Ponyta wandering around the beach would look pretty suspicious. I'm going to need all of you to keep a lookout for me, though."

Yellow gave me a relieved look, thankful I hadn't asked her to come with me anyway. "Of course!"

"We'll cause a distraction or something if something goes wrong," Blue promised.

"Like what?" Silver asked. "What could we possibly do that wouldn't make us look suspicious too?"

Blue shrugged. "I don't know. We'll figure something out." There was a glint in her eye that gave me a bad feeling that her idea of a distraction meant someone's arm was getting broken.

I figured I should let our eyes in the sky know what was going on before I morphed, so after taking a look around to make sure we were completely alone, I waved my arms above my head.

A few seconds later, Green, wreathed in shadows, pulled out of a dive and landed on a lifeguard's chair next to us. «What's going on, Red?»

"The full members are in some private meeting," I explained.

«Yeah, over there,» he said, jerking his head toward the fire. «I saw them a while ago.»

"Can you tell if there's any sort of..." I shrugged. "I don't know, security or something? If you can see that far, that is."

«If I can see that far,» he scoffed. «Red, I can see anything with these eyes. Speaking of, there are a lot of Ratatta out tonight in the dune grass... big, juicy ones.»

I didn't like how hungry he sounded when he said that. "Green, remember, you're not actually a Pidgeotto. You're just controlling the body. Don't start eating Ratatta."

He didn't defend against that statement. He didn't reassure me that he, the human, hadn't tolerated the thought of eating rodents. I wish he had. It would make the guilt I feel now so much more bearable. But he didn't, and instead carried on with the conversation as if nothing had happened. «There are a few guards here and there. I don't think they're armed.»

"Even if they are, I doubt they'll shoot a Zigzagoon," I decided. "Thanks Green. It's been over an hour. You should morph back."

«No, I have forty-five minutes at least. I can keep doing surveillance for a while–»

"No, Green," I cut him off. I didn't like how willing he was to stay in morph for risky amounts of time. It was time to check that. "You need to demorph. You've done your job, and you've done it well, but there's no reason to stay as a Pidgeotto any longer."

«But...» He hesitated. «There's a bit of a problem. I don't exactly have any clothes.»

"Silver has them in a bag," I assured him. "We picked them up on the way here. And the girls won't watch you while you morph."

Blue gave a sly grin. "I never said that." But when Green started to become human, she turned away with Yellow anyway.

While Green shifted and changed towards humanity, I stripped and started the change into a Zigzagoon.

This time was different than before. Instead of the fur, the first thing to change was my legs. Suddenly, my feet were much longer than they should have been, and it became impossible to stand upright on them, so I let myself fall forward onto all fours.

Next came the tail. A Zigzagoon's tail looks far thicker than it actually is. Really, the bulk of it is fur. What poked out of me as my tailbone extended wasn't fluffy or thick, but rather a short, thin appendage that couldn't do much besides wag back and forth.

I started to shrink until I finally reached the size of an actual Zigzagoon, making me into a tiny, hideously deformed human. I was suddenly very glad Yellow wasn't watching.

Finally the angularly patterned fur puffed out of my skin, covering my ugly form with a suit of brown and tan. My face protruded into a snout, my ears shifted, my eyes dulled, and my hands compacted into stubby little paws.

The morph was complete. I was fully Zigzagoon.

The Pokemon's brain emerged with just as much force as it had before, only far more terrified out of the gate, since now there were four unfriendly towers and no places to hide. This time, however, I was ready for it, and squashed the fearful instincts as soon as I felt them. I knew these towe–humans. I didn't have anything to be afraid of, not even their MOVEMENT!

Silver gave me a long stare. "I still don't like it," he decided. "One minute you're human, the next you're a Pokemon. It just doesn't seem right."

"It doesn't seem right that there are mind-controlling aliens taking over the world," Blue pointed out. "But it's still happening."

"Yeah, I know, but humans have been expecting aliens for a long time," Silver countered. "This morphing stuff...? Turning into Pokemon was all just fairy tale stuff until the Andalite told us about it."

"Oh, and I suppose Hork-Bajir and Taxxons just aren't weird enough for you..."

That was about where I stopped listening to them bicker, because Yellow had turned around and knelt down beside me. She looked at me, and with her face so close to my own, I noticed, far more clearly than I had before, that her eyes were very pretty, and that the way her bangs fell into her face was cute.

"Be safe, Red," she murmured, genuine concern in her voice and expression. "I don't want anything to happen to you." Hesitantly, she offered, "I-I can still come with you if you want me to. Really, I can."

«There's no need. I'll be fine,» I reassured her. «Don't worry.»

"I can't help it," she said simply. "Just be careful, okay?"

«I will,» I promised.

She petted my back once or twice, which felt surprisingly good, and then I set out across the sand toward the full members' meeting.

I'd been right to think that nobody would pay me any mind in my Zigzagoon morph. I crisscrossed down the beach, pausing occasionally to sniff things and dig a little (mostly to satiate the Zigzagoon brain's urge to forage), and barely anyone I passed said a word, save for, "Oh hey, look! A Zigzagoon!"

When I neared the dunes behind which the full members were meeting, I changed my course slowly toward them, making sure to double back on myself every now and then to avoid suspicion. The guards gave me a glance, but shrugged it off and went back to looking for real threats.

Since I had to play the part of an inconspicuous Zigzagoon, I couldn't get too close to the movement and fire, which made me worry that my sub-optimal senses would prevent me from understanding what they were doing. But when I set up camp and began digging in a nearby dune, I found that I could hear them just fine. Their words were muted, but perfectly audible.

I could vaguely see my dad through the blurry Zigzagoon's vision. It was easy to tell where he was once he moved. He and about thirty other people were standing around the fire, milling and muttering amongst themselves. There was an air of anticipation to the scene. They were waiting for someone, or something.

I stopped digging for a second or two when I noticed new movement apart from the gathering at the campfire. A new person was approaching. I let the Zigzagoon brain track the source of movement for a moment, decide it wasn't threatening enough to respond to, and then return to digging, making the actions seem perfectly natural.

"Quiet, everyone," The newcomer silenced the gathered crowd. "We have problems."

Shock struck me like a blow to the face. I knew that voice! I'd heard that voice many times. If I wasn't mistaken, I'd heard that voice every single morning over the school's PA system.

I stopped digging and looked squarely at the newcomer, focusing as hard as I could on the blurry form. When he moved and the blurred edges sharpened, my suspicions were confirmed.

It was Mr. Chapman, the assistant principal at my school.

My assistant principal was a Controller.

"First order of business," he said, his voice hard, uncompromising, and businesslike. "We still somehow have not managed to locate the teenagers from the construction site. This is the Visser's top priority. We need to find them. Does anyone have any leads?"

For a few seconds, silence. Then...

"I don't know anything for certain," my dad spoke up, "But I think it could be my host's son, Red. Even though my host has told him not to go through the construction site, he most likely does it anyway. I brought him here tonight to solve the problem. Either we make him ours... or we kill him."


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

I froze.

"Either we make him ours... or we kill him."

The sentence repeated over and over in my mind, gaining strength each time like some horrible, twisted version of an echo.

My dad. My dad wanted to kill me.

No, not my dad. Not my dad. A Yeerk. A parasite in my dad's head. My dad wasn't saying that. It was the Yeerk in his head.

Not my dad.

Not my dad! My dad wasn't even my dad! These Yeerks had taken my dad from me! They'd taken my own father, and I hadn't even known! If they were powerful enough to do that–to make my dad not my dad without one slip-up–then how could I stop them? What could I do?

I was an ant–a little tiny any trying to stop an army. Me and my friends... all just insects up against this massive legion of aliens. Me, a leader? The leader of what? A gang of ants? Who was I kidding? I was no Atlas. If I was, the world was doomed from the start.

I let go after that. I let my human brain retreat into the furthest recesses of my consciousness and allowed the Zigzagoon full autonomy. I didn't want to think. I just wanted to let the Zigzagoon dig and wander and be happy. And so I did. I drifted.

But after the fifth bottle cap I excavated from the sand, I realized I couldn't do this forever. Sooner or later, I would have to confront my situation, and it would have to be sooner, because I had a meeting to spy on.

I made my way back to the full members' campfire and set up once more at the sandy hole I'd been digging before. I tried to listen in to the conversation, but my brain was so jumbled I only caught bits and pieces. In between echoing repetitions in my head of "Either we make him ours... or we kill him," I gathered that we were at least safe from that second option. Chapman made very clear that killings at a Team Rocket event would make it very hard to keep a cover.

And then I heard something that piqued my interest. Once the formal meeting structure had dissolved, I picked up my dad's voice. He mentioned the Yeerk pool, and that he'd just been and was feeling recharged. But most importantly, he mentioned when he was headed back. My dad would be going back down the Yeerk pool on Monday night.

No, not my dad. The Yeerk in his head would be going back down to the Yeerk pool on Monday night, and dragging my dad's body with it.

Then I heard something that made me jerk in surprise: Yellow's voice, and very close.

I scrambled up the side of the dune on which I was digging, clawing my way through the shifting sand, until I stood atop it and looked down towards the source of Yellow's voice.

And then I heard another voice, one that made my blood run cold. Even through my muddy Zigzagoon hearing, there was no mistaking it: Yellow was talking to the policeman–the same policeman who'd questioned us earlier that day.

"Hey kid, what are you doing here?" the cop demanded.

"Looking for shells," Yellow answered, and then asked, with convincing uncertainty, "Is... Is that allowed, sir?"

The policeman narrowed his eyes suspiciously. I could practically see him... or, rather, the Yeerk in his head... connecting the dots and realizing that he was talking to the girl he'd seen that afternoon. Thankfully, though, he didn't mention it. "Yes, but not here. This meeting is for full members only. It's private business, so you can't be around for it. Understand?"

"Yes, sir," Yellow said, nodding. She kept her voice steady, but my movement-attuned vision could see that her hands were shaking in fear. I could only hope that the policeman didn't notice.

The officer gave her another hard stare, very obviously in the process of deciding whether Yellow being in the group of kids he'd seen earlier and her showing up near the full-members' meeting now were connected. I never knew what he decided, because he didn't say anything about it. Instead, he gave a curt nod and said, "Okay, get going. You can look for shells anywhere else, but don't wander over here again, or there'll be trouble."

Yellow gave another hasty, "Yes, sir," and then turned and left, moving as fast as she could without outright breaking into a jog. I intercepted her before she could get back to the bigger gathering of people. She was still on edge, jerking in fright when she saw me.

"Oh, there you are, Red," she said, letting out a sigh of relief.

«Yeah. Jeez, Yellow, that was really close. What were you doing there?»

She shifted guiltily. "I know you said I didn't need to come, but you were gone for a while, and I started to get worried. I just wanted to make sure everything was all right."

«That was risky,» I reminded her. «That guy is already on the lookout for anything that links you to the construction site. He can't know anything for sure yet, but if too many coincidences start to pile up...»

Yellow stared at her feet and bit her lip. "I know, I know. It was stupid of me. But I was worried, and I just wanted to see it you were okay."

«I appreciate it,» I reassured her. And I did appreciate it. Maybe it was just knowing that my dad wasn't my dad anymore–that the dad I interacted with every day would take my life in a heartbeat–but it felt good to know that someone genuinely cared about me and worried about whether I was okay. «I really do, Yellow, but we can't take unnecessary risks like that.»

By that point, we'd gotten back to where the others were waiting. I wanted to stay in Zigzagoon morph. Despite the brain's jumpiness, I enjoyed letting its simple nature guide me and overwhelm my human thoughts. If I just let the Pokemon take control, in a few minutes I wouldn't remember why I was sad. I could dig something up, like a soda can. That would make me happy.

But I couldn't. If I lost myself to the Zigzagoon, I wasn't sure whether I'd recover in time to become human again. How long had I been in morph already? An hour? Ninety minutes? Too long, either way.

But that was the danger. If a morph became an escape from humanity, it was only a matter of time until that escape became permanent, and humanity slipped away entirely.

Thinking that way as I started to change back to human, I got that bad feeling again about Green, festering in the pit of my stomach. He loved to fly. How much did he love it?

Blue turned away the moment I started changing. Yellow was still distracted and didn't notice for a few moments, but when she did, she turned away, her cheeks pink.

"Silver, you were right," I informed him once I was fully human again, pulling on my clothes. "My dad is a Controller. This whole thing was a scam to try to persuade us into joining Team Rocket and getting infested."

Silver didn't look happy about it. I'd expected at least some sort of 'I told you so' remark, but instead he scowled and kicked at the sand. "Great. Just great. You see, I thought we'd finally caught a break there for a moment. Glad to know we just don't get those."

"Get used to it," I said bluntly. "Because I've got some more bad news. Chapman's a Controller too, and he's looking for us. Apparently Visser Three is very intent on finding those meddling kids."

"Chapman?" Blue asked. "Like Mr. Chapman from school? Assistant Principal Chapman?"

"Yeah, him. He's some sort of leader, I think. He seems to have a tight connection with the Visser."

"Principal Visser," Silver joked. His tone was light, but frustration still twisted his expression. "Principal Visser and Assistant Principal Chapman."

"We should leave," Green suggested. "Like, now. Before they try anything."

"Soon," I agreed. "But we're safe for a bit, at least. They're not going to do anything crazy at one of their public meetings. They definitely won't try to kill us unless they're completely sure we're the kids they're looking for."

"Oh good," Blue scoffed, crossing her arms. "Glad to know they're being so courteous."

I shrugged. "Kind of. From what I can tell, they're going to wait until those kids talk before they do anything. They think that kids who've seen aliens will eventually tell somebody something."

"But we won't," Blue interjected. "We're not going to tell anyone anything."

"Exactly," Silver agreed. "Glad to know you've taken the 'don't be stupid' ruleset to heart, Blue. We won't tell anyone anything, and we'll forget about all this Yeerk stuff and go back to normal life."

She frowned. "That's not what I said."

"You have to be kidding me," Silver groaned, giving us all an incredulous look. "You're still on that 'we're going to fight the Yeerks' business? News flash: there's no hope! Don't you get it? These things are everywhere! Everywhere. Anyone we know could be a Controller. Heck, everyone we know could be a Controller!"

"That's exactly it, Silver," I interrupted. "That's exactly the reason we have to fight. My dad is one of them. I'm fighting for him. But what about everyone else? What about everyone who's had friends or family get infested? We can't just sit by and let them suffer."

"And what are you going to do about it?" he challenged. "What are you going to do when you're up against a million Hork-Bajir and Taxxons and Visser Three in some morph from planet whatever? Turn into a Zigzagoon and headbutt them? It's like some sort of unfair video game where you're stuck at level 1 and you're up against a team of level 100's."

I gave what I hoped was a grin. My mouth felt numb. "Yeah, but I'm pretty good at video games."

"And you can add another 'level 1,'" Blue said. "I'm in."

Green nodded. "So am I."

"Me too," Yellow agreed hastily.

"Oh great." Silver rolled his eyes. "The Elite Four, you guys are. Do I have to go on again about this being real life and not some action movie? Because I will."

I had no doubt he would have, but just then we heard people walking through the dunes, dispersed from the full members' meeting.

"No more thinking about it right now," I decided. "Forget everything for today. We can talk about it more tomorrow."

I wasn't going to wait, not by a long shot. I just had to get Silver to shut up about everything so we wouldn't attract unwanted attention.

Another necessary lie.

The moment we started to head back toward the main group, I took Yellow aside. She looked nervous, like she was worried I'd bring up the risk she'd taken again. That wasn't my intention, though. "Yellow, I need to get a morph that can watch Chapman without him seeing me. Do you have anything like that at the clinic?"

She thought about it, chewing the tip of her tongue. "Um... Well, we don't have a lot of Pokemon like that right now. There's a Lycanroc with a twisted ankle, a lot of bird Pokemon with messed up wings, and a Deerling or two with a broken leg..."

She listed off a few more Pokemon, but I was beginning to see a problem. "Yellow," I said once she was done, "All these Pokemon are way too big."

"That's what I was thinking," she agreed. "But maybe..." Her eyes lit up. "How small do you think we can go?"

I shrugged. "Pretty small, I'd guess."

"Then I think I have a Pokemon," she said with a grin. "It's not really a patient in the clinic, but if we can find it, you'll have a morph that's small, fast, and mobile."

And that's how I found myself in Yellow's barn later that night, crawling hands and knees on the floor between cages filled with injured and sick Pokemon, looking for Treecko.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Monday morning at school, I turned into a Treecko. Around first period, I hung back in the hallway until the coast was clear, and then I stepped into my locker and shut it behind me.

The space was more cramped, but that wasn't surprising. I'm a little taller than most kids my age, so I figured it would be a tight squeeze.

I was afraid to turn into the Treecko. I'd been a Zigzagoon, but at least that was a mammal. Aside from the different body structure and the fur, I'd still felt at least somewhat human while in morph.

But a Treecko was different. When I morphed, I'd be a reptile. I'd have scaly skin and cold blood, and I'd be able to do all sorts of crazy, inhuman things, like walk on walls. People think that being able to crawl on walls would be a cool thing, but imagine seeing your average, everyday human do that. That wouldn't be cool. That would just be frightening.

"Oh boy," I muttered to myself. The more I thought about it, the more I would freak myself out. The best thing I could do was just do it.

So I took a deep breath, and I started the morph.

The first thing that happened was the shrinking. I'd shrunk when I morphed before, so it wasn't too surprising. It was a good thing I got smaller before any other changes happened, though, because the very next change was a fully formed Treecko tail shooting out from the base of my spine. I was sure that if I'd been normal size, it would have broken, smashed into the side of the locker.

In the darkness, the changes seemed to happen faster than they had when I'd morphed the Zigzagoon. One moment, I had normal, human skin. The next, it was rough to the touch. My hands were five-fingered with opposable thumbs, and then suddenly they were stubby and covered with dozens of tiny barbs that could stick to just about anything.

Fabric that looked as big as a circus tent pooled around me, and I realized that as I'd shrunk, my clothes had quite literally fallen off of me.

And just like that, I was completely a Treecko. It rattled me how quickly I'd shed my human body.

All at once, the Treecko brain smashed into my own in a head-on collision. It was afraid. Terrified, actually. But I'd expected fear. The Zigzagoon had been afraid too. Fear, I could handle.

Hunger, I could not.

The locker was dark, but the frightened Pokemon knew how to get out. It looked for light, and found it at the locker ventilation slits, all the way up the wall. With barely a second thought, my body launched itself at the wall and began to scramble up as quickly as if it was running across the floor. It was like being strapped on my stomach on a skateboard hurtling along at NASCAR speeds, but knowing that backwards meant down.

Motivated only by hunger, the Treecko forced its way through the opening and into the hallway outside. Then I noticed how different the eyes were. They weren't in front like human eyes, instead separated far more. My human brain couldn't decipher the images it was receiving. It was built to process streams of data far more similar. I was lost.

But the Treecko brain understood what it was seeing. It could process both images simultaneously, and figure out the positioning of itself and everything else. So, reluctantly, I surrendered a bit of control to the Pokemon's mind, and things cleared up.

The Treecko didn't care about how it processed data. It was only concerned with satiating the empty feeling in its stomach.

Food? Where was food?

Left, I suggested. That was the way to Chapman's office.

Before I could even tell what was happening, my body shot down the wall toward the floor. I was on the world's steepest roller coaster going at the speed of sound. In half a second, I was on the ground and zooming down the hallway toward my destination.

It wasn't so bad being a Treecko, I thought to myself. Besides being hungry, the brain wasn't putting up much of a fight. I was getting the hang of controlling it.

But I wasn't.

A little ways down the hall, I spotted movement out of the corner of one of my eyes. I stopped cold, and my head snapped towards its source. Then, all at once, my senses converged on it. An Ariados.

In the same way I'd started moving towards the floor before my human brain could figure out what was going on, my body accelerated to maximum velocity straight towards the spider before I could even think to avoid it.

It must have been a small Ariados from a human's point of view, but it looked like as big as a toddler to me. I could see every detail of it, from the stripes on its body to the snapping white mandibles to the spike on its forehead.

It realized what was happening and ran, but I was faster. I sped after it until I was right next to it.

And then with one quick snap of my jaw, I ate it.

I screamed inside my head, horrified at what I'd just done, but I couldn't stop the Treecko. It ate the Ariados, and I could feel it fighting every centimeter of the way to my stomach, because you see, Treecko don't chew their food. They swallow it whole. The Ariados would still be alive and kicking until it hit my stomach acid. And then it would finally die.

But until then...

I couldn't take it anymore. This morph had been a mistake. Getting involved in this fight at all had been a mistake. I was done. I was out. I was going to morph back into human and never morph again.

But then I felt the ground shake like a miniature earthquake, and I realized I wasn't out of danger yet.

A meteor hit the ground right beside me. A shoe! I darted away from it.

But then another meteor slammed down right on top of me. I dodged at the last second, but not quick enough.

The shoe smashed down to the ground, right on top of my tail!


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

I ran, scuffling as fast as I could with my barbed feet, trying to gain traction against the polished linoleum, but the shoe held me in place with more force than I could ever hope to supply.

But then, suddenly, the foot lifted, and I was free. The giant owner of the massive shoes walked on, oblivious to me.

My tail felt numb–broken. With one footstep, the human walking by had crushed my bones like matchsticks. A helpless feeling washed over me. Against anything larger than myself, I was powerless.

But I couldn't resign yet. As much as I wanted out of this disgusting, futile little body, I had a mission, and that meant I had to find out who the giant that had just crushed my tail was.

I scuttled up the wall, dragging my tail limply behind me, and looked down with one eye at the walking human. I couldn't tell for sure, because my brain was still having trouble reconciling the Treecko's vision with my human memories, but I thought it was Chapman.

I didn't want to follow him on his path down the hallway. I wanted to leave it for another day, or perhaps never pursue him again. I wanted to demorph, go to class, and never think about Yeerks or Andalites or morphing ever again. But I couldn't. I had a mission: spy on Chapman. And there he was.

He was the mission. I was the leader. It was as simple as that.

And watching him might help me save my dad.

I crawled along the wall after him, trying my best to stay out of his sight. In my mind, I went over the plan. Yellow and I had discussed it when I'd acquired the Treecko. I would set up camp underneath Chapman's desk, or on a wall, and then listen into his phone calls in hopes he'd let something slip about Yeerks or the Yeerk pool. Every hour and a half or so, I'd head back to my locker, demorph, remorph, and go back to listen some more.

Of course, I'd be missing class to do so. I had a cover story planned if this happened to take all day and the school called my parents to tell them I'd skipped school. If anyone asked, I'd gone home before first period because I wasn't feeling well. My parents wouldn't be the wiser–they weren't home anyway. My mom was at work, and my dad was...

Probably doing Yeerk things.

I was jolted out of my thoughts when Chapman stopped far before I expected him to. I thought through the turns we'd already taken. Unless I'd lost track, there was at least one more hallway and a left turn to go. Had I zoned out?

Chapman swung open a door, and all of a sudden the smell of cleaning chemicals hit me. My assistant principal had just opened the door to the janitor's closet.

I darted through the doorway after him, making sure to stay in the shadows of the dark closet. I hid on the wall next to a mop head and watched.

My reptilian eyes could see through the darkness far better than human eyes. It was like they were tracking heat as well as light. I could see Chapman moving in the shadows, messing around with a sink. He twisted the faucet around a few times, flicked a switch on the wall that I'd assumed was for the lights, and then hit a button on the sink that I could only assume was its garbage disposal.

Except instead of hearing the whirring, grinding noise garbage disposals usually make as they shred bits of gunk, I saw something that at first I couldn't believe. I told myself that the Treecko's eyes were playing tricks on me, but then I looked again, and a third time, and I knew that there was no mistaking it.

The wall had opened. Where there had been a solid brick wall before was now a gaping hole. No, not just a hole. A doorway. It smelled strange–different from the janitor's closet. And there were sounds... sounds I could swear I recognized.

Chapman stepped into the doorway, and I realized that there were stairs through it, heading down somewhere my eyes weren't powerful enough to see.

And then I heard it. It was faint, almost as quiet as a whisper, but clear nonetheless.

"Nooo!"

Through that doorway, from what sounded like miles away, came a human scream of despair. And then I understood the sounds I'd vaguely recognized before. Crying. Human crying and wailing.

Hearing those sounds, I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that they came from prisoners awaiting their grim fate, waiting for a Yeerk slug to squirm into their ear and take over their mind with a vice grip stronger than any chains. It was the pitiful cry of a captured human being waiting to become a Controller.

Chapman entered the doorway and shut it behind himself.

I'd found the Yeerk pool.

It was right under my school.


End file.
